Echoing Flames: Fire and Ice
by TheShadowedWarrior
Summary: Fireheart is a full warrior of ThunderClan now and training his first apprentice, Cinderpaw. But instead of becoming easier, his life grows more complicated than ever as he deals with betrayal, a horrific accident, and the continuing mystery of Bluestar's behavior towards him.
1. A New Dawn

**Welcome to the second installment of my ****_Echoing Flames _****series. As always, I don't own Warriors, although if we're being honest, I definitely should. Just kidding.**

* * *

A cool breeze ruffled Fireheart's fur as the first light of dawn cracked the sky. He shivered slightly, his paws working the earth. Despite the chill in the air, the flame-colored tom felt nothing but unbridled pride. After moons of training, he was finally a full warrior of ThunderClan.

Silently, he reflected on the victory against ShadowClan's leadership yesterday, Brokenstar's eyes glittering, fixed on him as he disappeared into the forest after his followers. The former ShadowClan leader had reigned terror over the other Clans as well as his own, stealing kits to train as warriors even though they were much too young. Most of the time, his harsh training methods had resulted in their deaths–though Fireheart knew that it hadn't been an accident. He had even driven WindClan from their hunting grounds. Brokenstar had been a dark shadow in the forest ever since Fireheart had left Twolegplace behind to join the wild cats.

Fireheart wondered how long it would take for Brokenstar to return. Before fleeing ShadowClan's camp, he had made it clear that he intended to return one day. It was too soon now, of course. But what about in a moon or two? Only time would tell.

The rest of the camp was beginning to stir now. Fireheart watched as his Clan leader pushed her way out, her long blue-gray fur glowing almost silver in the dawn light. The ThunderClan deputy, Tigerclaw, emerged from the warriors' den moments later and met Bluestar at the edge of the clearing. He murmured something urgently to her, flicking his tail. Fireheart wondered what they were talking about, but he didn't dare ask for fear of breaking his vow of silence. Instead, he nodded respectfully as the two cats passed him. Tigerclaw walked on by without a second glance, but Bluestar paused and gave him a look as she passed. The pride in her gaze sent a tingle of warmth down Fireheart's spine, yet he couldn't suppress the familiar sense of confusion he felt whenever Bluestar treated him as if he were special or something.

Beside him, Sandstorm nudged Fireheart and pointed up with her nose. An orange glow was just visible on the horizon.

"Glad to see the dawn, you four?" Whitestorm's deep meow took Fireheart by surprise. He hadn't seen the white warrior approaching. The four new warriors nodded silently.

"It's alright, you may speak. Your vigil is over," Whitestorm meowed kindly. The great white warrior had fought side by side with them against ShadowClan, and more so, he had been one of Fireheart's closest friends ever since his arrival in ThunderClan. Fireheart sometimes wondered if Whitestorm knew more about Bluestar's behavior towards him than he let on.

"Thank you, Whitestorm," Fireheart meowed gratefully. He stood up and stretched his legs as the older warrior padded away.

Sandstorm and Graystripe pushed themselves up as well. "Brr!" the gray warrior shivered. "I thought the sun would never come up!"

"Oh, please," Sandstorm scoffed playfully. "With fur as thick as yours, I'm surprised you even feel the cold."

"Yeah, mind lending me some?" Fireheart asked jokingly.

"You need more than extra fur to keep you warm, Fireheart," Ravenflight meowed. It was true. With the poor eating habits he'd developed as a kittypet, Fireheart was much thinner than even most forest-born cats. He had gained a bit since joining the Clan, but his weight was still a concern to his friends.

A sneer sounded from the apprentices' den. "The great warriors speak!"

Fireheart turned his head to see Dustpaw crawling out from the fern bush where the apprentices slept, a look of disdain on his face as he stared at his former denmates. Out of the five apprentices, he had been the only one not to receive his warrior name the previous night. In a way, Fireheart couldn't help feeling sympathetic. He had been training longer than both Graystripe and Fireheart, yet Dustpaw was left as an apprentice while the two younger cats became warriors.

Then he shook his head, reminding himself that it was Dustpaw's own fault he was being left behind. The brown tabby had refused to accompany them on the mission to rescue Frostfur's kits, calling it a waste of time. If he had chosen to go on the mission, he would have been made a warrior along with the rest of them.

Dustpaw stalked over to the fresh-kill pile, throwing the ginger tom a look of pure hatred as he passed. Fireheart twitched his whiskers but didn't say anything, and Sandstorm rolled her eyes. Before he joined the Clan, she and Dustpaw had been close friends. They were kin, not littermates like Dustpaw and Ravenflight, but closely related. But after Fireheart's arrival, Sandstorm had taken an instant liking to him and her friendship with Dustpaw had turned sour. Fireheart might have felt guilty if Dustpaw weren't the most spoiled, insufferable cat to walk the forest.

"I hope Darkstripe has him chasing blue squirrels all day!" Graystripe hissed.

"But there aren't any blue squirrels," Fireheart pointed out, confused.

"Precisely!" Graystripe's eyes gleamed.

"You can't exactly blame him. He did begin his training before you two," Ravenflight pointed out mildly. "If he'd been in the battle yesterday, he probably would have been made a warrior with us."

"That's his problem," Sandstorm meowed nonchalantly, echoing Fireheart's thoughts. "He's the one who said he wasn't going to come."

"Well, with Darkstripe as his mentor, he'll probably never become a warrior anyway," Fireheart meowed, half-joking.

"True," Graystripe meowed in agreement. "Hey look, two mice and a chaffinch to share!"

They padded over to the fresh-kill pile and picked up their prey when Ravenflight's eyes suddenly gleamed. "I suppose we take this to the _warriors' _side now," he purred.

"I suppose we do," Fireheart echoed.

The four warriors took their food over to the clump of nettles where Whitestorm and the other senior warriors ate. Settling themselves down nearby, Graystripe and Ravenflight tucked into their mouses while Sandstorm sat down next to Fireheart to share the chaffinch with him. Despite not eating since the previous day, however, the flame-colored warrior didn't have much of an appetite. Nevertheless, he forced himself to swallow a few bites so as not to worry his friends.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I think I could sleep for a moon," Graystripe meowed, yawning.

"I think I'll go out for a bit, actually," Fireheart replied. He was feeling awfully restless for some reason and wanted to get out of the camp to calm himself. Besides, it was the first time he'd been awake after a battle and only a sign from StarClan would convince him to spend the day sleeping.

"Suit yourself, then," Sandstorm meowed, flicking him affectionately with her tail. "Don't blame us if you fall asleep on your paws, though!"

Rolling his eyes in amusement, Fireheart turned and walked toward the gorse tunnel that led out of the camp while Sandstorm, Graystripe, and Ravenflight retired to the warriors' den. The sun was rising steadily, but it was still nowhere near its peak. If he hurried, he could get a decent hunt in, take a short nap when he arrived home, and then be ready for a sunset patrol.

A mouse was scuffling through some leaves. Quickly, Fireheart dropped into a crouch and began to creep towards it. Before it had time to sense him, he leaped forward and nipped it on the back of the neck, killing it instantly.

"Good catch."

The mouse still clutched in his jaws, Fireheart turned around to see Bluestar and Tigerclaw striding towards him. He set it down and dipped his head respectfully to his Clan leader and deputy.

"What are you doing out here?" Tigerclaw's voice, though not as unfriendly as usual, held none of the warmth that Bluestar's praise had. "Shouldn't you be sleeping with your friends?"

"I didn't feel like sleeping," Fireheart replied, feeling a prickle of resentment. Tigerclaw was behaving as if he were wasting time. "This is the first time I haven't passed out after a battle and I wanted to do something other than nap all day."

"Well, make sure you're back in camp by sunhigh and sleep then. I want you fresh and ready for either a sunset or a water patrol later," the deputy growled.

Fireheart bit back an angry retort and simply meowed, "Yes, Tigerclaw." The large tabby nodded and stalked away.

"Never mind him, Fireheart," Bluestar meowed soothingly. She had seen the annoyance in his gaze when Tigerclaw spoke to him. "You're doing fine. But please do make sure you get some sleep. It's important, you know. I don't want you making yourself sick on your first day as a warrior."

"I will, Bluestar," Fireheart promised. His former mentor nodded to him and turned to follow her deputy.

After she had gone, Fireheart buried his mouse and continued with his hunt. The prey seemed to be moving slower than usual this morning, and it didn't take long for him to rack up a respectable load. He killed a squirrel that was burrowing around for some food and glanced up at the sky. It was nearly sunhigh.

_Time to get back home, _Fireheart thought.

Picking up his prey, the ginger warrior carried the load back to the camp, where he deposited it in the fresh-kill pile. Suddenly aware of how tired he was, he headed for the warriors' den. His friends were still sound asleep, and Mousefur was just pushing her way out when he arrived. She nodded to him in greeting and allowed him to step inside. There was an empty nest next to Sandstorm, and the smell told Fireheart that no one had used it. Yawning, Fireheart curled up amongst the moss and allowed a wave of sleep to claim him at last.


	2. Adjustments

Over the next few days, Fireheart and his friends settled into their new lives as warriors. The Clan was busier than ever preparing for the upcoming cold season, so there was no more time for apprentice games. Every morning, Fireheart woke up at the crack of dawn and spent nearly all day out of camp on various hunting and border patrols before finally collapsing in his nest around moonhigh, exhausted. He still made an effort to visit Cinderkit, though he didn't have as much time to spend with the little kit as he would have liked.

One afternoon, Sandstorm had forced Fireheart to stay in camp with her to share a meal. The two warriors were eating their fresh-kill near the clump of nettles when Bluestar leaped onto the Highrock and yowled, "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting."

"That must be Longtail getting his first apprentice," Sandstorm remarked as they padded over to join the rest of their Clanmates. "He's been dropping hints for days."

Fireheart wasn't sure if that was the right word since Longtail had more or less stated outright that he would be receiving an apprentice soon. The pale tabby had been more arrogant than ever, declaring that he would train only the finest warriors in ThunderClan. At the memory, Fireheart almost snorted out loud. Did Longtail truly believe that he was capable of training the best warriors when he himself was a terrible fighter and only an average hunter at best? If the way he'd turned out after being trained by Darkstripe was any indication, Longtail's new apprentice was doomed.

"One of our kits has reached the age of six moons," Bluestar announced from her place on the Highrock. "And as such, it is time that he was apprenticed. From this day on, this apprentice will be known as Swiftpaw."

Fireheart and Sandstorm turned their heads to see Goldenflower's kit staring up at his leader. There was an air about him that made him seem much younger than six moons, even though it was easy to tell that he was much more physically developed than Frostfur and Brindleface's litters. His eyes betrayed his nervousness and his whiskers seemed to be trembling. Even amidst his resentment towards Longtail, Fireheart couldn't help feeling a twinge of sympathy.

"Longtail, you are ready for your first apprentice," Bluestar continued, turning to face the pale tabby. "You had an excellent mentor in Darkstripe"–_Yeah, right, _Fireheart thought– "and I trust that you will pass all you learned onto this apprentice."

Longtail padded forward to touch noses with his new apprentice, who was trembling more than ever now. "It's okay, you're doing fine," he murmured.

_Huh, so Longtail has a heart after all. Who would have thought? _

The Clan began cheering Swiftpaw's name, Fireheart and Sandstorm quickly joining in. Whatever his feelings towards the older warrior were, Fireheart hoped that Longtail would be a good mentor to Swiftpaw. He certainly didn't want him to fail by any means, if only because Swiftpaw deserved a mentor who would train him well. Hopefully, Longtail's teaching skills would be better than his battling or hunting skills.

"That might be us someday," Sandstorm whispered eagerly to him.

Fireheart nodded, suddenly cheered at the thought of receiving his own apprentice someday. If he was lucky, perhaps he would receive Cinderkit in a few moons. She had made no secret of her desire to have him as her mentor, after all. For a moment, he allowed himself to imagine taking Cinderkit out into the forest and showing her around the territory, just as Bluestar had once done with him. It was almost enough for him to ignore the glare Dustpaw sent his way and the way Longtail bent down and muttered something in Swiftpaw's ear, shooting a look at Fireheart through narrowed eyes.

* * *

Bluestar led the Clan through the forest towards Fourtrees as the full moon climbed steadily higher into the sky. Fireheart walked along behind her, his pelt prickling with excitement. This wasn't his first Gathering–his second, actually–but there was something different about going as a warrior instead of an apprentice. By the looks on Sandstorm, Graystripe, and Ravenflight's faces, they felt the same way.

As he followed Bluestar down the slope into the clearing, Fireheart broke away from the group and looked around for someone to talk to. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long. Stonefur from RiverClan padded over to him, along with Dawncloud, one of the ShadowClan cats who had battled alongside ThunderClan against Brokenstar.

"Greetings," Stonefur meowed.

"Hello, Firepaw," Dawncloud greeted him, her eyes shining with warmth.

"Fireheart, actually," the ginger warrior corrected. "We were made warriors a few nights ago."

"Congratulations," the ShadowClan queen meowed her praise quickly echoed by Stonefur. "You'll make a fine warrior for your Clan, young one."

"Thank you," Fireheart meowed respectfully, dipping his head to the older warrior.

A yowl from the top of the Great Rock interrupted their conversation, and Stonefur and Dawncloud nodded to him before padding off to join a few other RiverClan and ShadowClan warriors. Fireheart turned his head, his gaze fixating on Bluestar as she settled herself down next to Nightpelt. Crookedstar sat a few tail-lengths away, his green eyes glowing in the light of the moon. Tallstar, the leader of WindClan, was missing once again, as was the rest of his exiled Clan.

"Cats of all Clans, welcome," Crookedstar meowed. "Bluestar tells me that she would like to speak first."

He dipped his head to the ThunderClan leader and stepped back, allowing her to take his place at the head of the Great Rock. She nodded to him in thanks and turned her attention to the throng of cats below.

"ThunderClan brings to this Gathering their new medicine cat, Yellowfang," she announced formally. She paused for a moment as all eyes turned to the old gray molly. Yellowfang's ear was twisted slightly, betraying her discomfort at being the attention she was receiving from the other cats. Fireheart relaxed a moment later, however, as her gaze met that of ShadowClan's new medicine cat, Runningnose, and her ear straightened.

Bluestar continued, "We also bring four new warriors: Fireheart, Sandstorm, Graystripe, and Ravenflight."

Fireheart flicked his tail self-consciously as several pairs of eyes turned to look at him. They seemed friendly enough, but he had never been particularly fond of attention. Silently, he willed the leaders to continue on with the Gathering. Fortunately, Nightpelt stepped forward, brushing past Bluestar to stand on the highest part of the Great Rock.

"I, Nightpelt, have taken over the leadership of ShadowClan," he announced. "Our former leader, Brokenstar, broke the warrior code and we were forced to chase him out."

"No mention of the fact that we helped them do it," Fireheart heard Graystripe mutter from a few tail-lengths away.

"Did you honestly expect him to?" the ginger warrior retorted, keeping his voice low. StarClan would freeze over before anyone from ShadowClan admitted they needed help from another Clan. Nightpelt might not have been a traitorous kit murderer like Brokenstar, but that didn't mean he was any less prideful.

The ShadowClan leader continued, "The spirits of our ancestors have spoken to Runningnose and chosen me as the leader. I have not yet traveled to the Moonstone to receive StarClan's gift of nine lives, but I will make this journey tomorrow while the moon is still full. After my vigil at the Moonstone, I shall be known as Nightstar."

"Where is Brokenstar now?" Frostfur called out.

"I think we can assume he has left the forest with the other banished warriors. He knows it would be dangerous for him to try to return," Nightpelt answered.

_For now, _Fireheart thought. Brokenstar and his allies might be gone now, but they wouldn't stay away forever.

Crookedstar stepped forward next. "Let's hope that Brokenstar has had the sense to leave the forest for good. His greed for territory threatened us all."

He waited for the yowls of agreement to die down before he continued. "While Brokenstar was ShadowClan's leader, I allowed him to hunt in our river. But now that ShadowClan has a new leader, this agreement can no longer stand. The prey in the river belongs to RiverClan alone."

Mews of triumph rose from the other RiverClan cats, but Fireheart saw with a prickle of alarm that Nightpelt's fur was bristling.

"ShadowClan has the same needs as it did under Brokenstar," the black-furred cat meowed coldly. "We have many mouths to feed, Crookedstar. You made an agreement with the whole of ShadowClan!"

Crookedstar leaped to his paws and turned on Nightpelt. He flattened his ears and hissed, and the cats below fell silent.

Quickly, Bluestar stepped forward. "ShadowClan has suffered many losses recently," she meowed calmly. "With fewer mouths to feed, Nightpelt, do you really need RiverClan's fish?"

Crookedstar hissed again, but Nightpelt held his gaze firmly. Fireheart barely refrained from rolling his eyes. Were the leaders going to start a petty fight at a Gathering?

Bluestar spoke again, this time more forcefully. "You have just driven out your leader and several of your strongest warriors! And Brokenstar went against the warrior code when he forced Crookedstar to agree to share the river."

Nightpelt looked away angrily but didn't say a word. Fireheart relaxed, letting the fur lie flat on his shoulders. Now that he knew what it was like to fight in a real battle, he admired his leader's courage in challenging these two great warriors. Muffled mews of agreement rose from the crowd as the tension from the top of the Great Rock died down.

"There is one more matter that needs to be discussed tonight," Bluestar continued. "As everyone here is aware, WindClan were driven from their hunting grounds two moons ago. However, StarClan has dictated that there must be four Clans in the forest. We must follow the will of our warrior ancestors. WindClan needs to return to the uplands."

Yowls of agreement rose from the ThunderClan cats, but Nightpelt and Crookedstar were looking at Bluestar as though she'd grown a second head. "Return, Bluestar?" the black tom rasped. "Why? Think about all the extra territory we'd be giving up."

"Why should we starve for the sake of a Clan that cannot defend itself?" Leopardfur, the RiverClan deputy, yowled.

"Bluestar is right! WindClan must return!" Tigerclaw spat.

"Driving a Clan out of their territory is against the warrior code just as much as demanding hunting rights in another Clan's territory is," Fireheart couldn't resist pointing out. "What was the point of driving out Brokenstar if all you're going to do is continue to ignore the warrior code even after he's gone?"

"What would you know?" Leopardfur sneered.

_More than you, obviously, _Fireheart thought. Not wanting to provoke a fight, he simply sneered back and pointedly turned his head away–one of the biggest signs of disrespect a warrior could give their superior. Leopardfur growled but was smart enough not to challenge him.

"Nightpelt," Bluestar meowed. "It was Brokenstar who drove WindClan from their territory. That is why ThunderClan helped you to chase him out."

Fireheart narrowed his eyes. He knew Bluestar was gently reminding Nightpelt of the debt he owed ThunderClan.

The ShadowClan leader was silent for several heartbeats, his eyes half-closed. Finally, he opened them again and meowed, "Very well, Bluestar. We will allow WindClan to return." Fireheart saw Crookedstar turn his head away in anger, his eyes black slits.

Bluestar nodded. "Two of us have agreed, Crookedstar," she meowed softly. "WindClan must be brought home. Until then, no cats should hunt in their territory."

The Gathering began to break up as the cats prepared to travel back to their camps. Bluestar dipped her head to Crookedstar before bounding off the Great Rock. On the rock, Crookedstar turned to Nightpelt. There was something about the look that passed between them that made Fireheart's spine tingle apprehensively. Somehow, he could tell that Bluestar did not really have Nightpelt's support at all. Judging by the anger in Tigerclaw's eyes, the ThunderClan deputy had not missed this exchange either.

For once, Fireheart shared Tigerclaw's concern. This was a shift in Clan alliances that he had not expected. After the risk ThunderClan had taken by helping ShadowClan drive out Brokenstar, how could they side with RiverClan now? Was it possible that _no _ShadowClan warriors had any concept of honor?

* * *

**Trouble's afoot, as usual. Also, Leopardfur and Fireheart definitely aren't going to be friends anytime soon. **

**Now to respond to a few reviews. **

**WolflexZ: That was the plan, yes. Fireheart, Graystripe, and Sandstorm will be the ones sent to retrieve WindClan. Ravenflight won't be going because...well, reasons. **

**Shadowwolf1997: Yes, they will become mates sooner–very soon, as a matter of fact. Sandstorm will have her kits somewhere near the beginning of the _Forest of Secrets _arc. **

**Dogwolf12: Glad you're enjoying! This is my favorite of all my works right now, although that was probably pretty obvious, lol. **

**EmeraldGamer3330: Thanks! And yeah, I know everyone's eager for him to find out. All I'll say is...eventually. Eventually, it's going to happen. And there will be drama. Nothing new, really. **

**Thanks for reading, **

**-TheShadowedWarrior**


	3. A Mission

Bluestar led the way swiftly back to camp. The sound of their arrival stirred the cats who had remained behind. As the group streamed through the gorse entrance, sleepy figures emerged from their nests.

"What's the news?" called Halftail.

"Were ShadowClan there?" Willowpelt asked.

"Yes, they were," Bluestar replied gravely. She strode past Willowpelt and leaped on top of the Highrock. There was no need for the customary Clan meeting call–the cats were already gathering below her. Tigerclaw bounded up to sit on the rock beside his leader.

"There was much tension between the Clans tonight," Bluestar began, remembering the looks Nightpelt and Crookedstar had swapped at the end of the Gathering. "And I became aware of a possible alliance between Crookedstar and Nightpelt."

She saw Graystripe squeeze in a small space next to Fireheart. "What are they talking about?" he asked. "I thought Nightpelt agreed with Bluestar."

"Nightpelt?" croaked One-eye's ancient voice from the back of the crowd.

"He is the new leader of ShadowClan," Bluestar answered.

"But his name–hasn't he been accepted by StarClan?" One-eye asked.

"He plans to travel to the Moonstone tomorrow night," Tigerclaw answered her.

"No leader can speak for their Clan at a Gathering without receiving StarClan's approval first," One-eye muttered, loudly enough for all the cats to hear.

"I doubt he's had time," Fireheart pointed out. "ShadowClan was a mess when we left their camp. He's probably been more concerned with rebuilding his Clan than traipsing over to Highstones."

"He has the support of ShadowClan, One-eye," Bluestar answered, nodding at the old molly. "And we cannot ignore what he said tonight." One-eye gave a disgruntled sniff, and Bluestar lifted her head to address the whole Clan. "At the Gathering, I suggested we bring WindClan home. But Nightpelt and Crookedstar don't want them to return."

"They're hardly likely to join forces though, are they?" Graystripe called out. "They almost had a scrap over hunting rights in the river."

Fireheart turned to his friend. "Didn't you see the looks they were swapping at the end of the meeting? They're both desperate to get their paws on WindClan's territory."

"But why?" asked Dustpaw, who was sitting beside his mentor, Darkstripe.

Whitestorm answered him, "I expect ShadowClan is not as weak as we thought they would be. And Nightpelt seems to have more ambition than we expected."

"No surprise there," Bluestar heard her kit mutter. "Just because not everyone in ShadowClan is a kit-murdering rogue doesn't mean they're honorable warriors."

"But why does _RiverClan _want to hunt WindClan's grounds? They have always grown fat on fish from the river," Willowpelt yowled. "The uplands are a long ways to go for a few windblown rabbits!"

The once-beautiful queen, Dappletail, spoke in a voice cracked with age. "At the Gathering, some RiverClan elders spoke of Twolegs taking over part of the river."

"She's right," added Frostfur. "They say the Twolegs have been living in shelters near the river, disturbing the fish. The RiverClan warriors have to hide in the bushes and watch them with empty stomachs."

Bluestar felt a pang of worry for her older children but made sure to keep her face impassive. "For now, we must be careful not to do anything to bring ShadowClan and RiverClan closer together. Go and rest now. Runningwind and Dustpaw, you two will take the dawn patrol."

A cold breeze rattled the leaves of the trees overhead. Still muttering amongst themselves, the cats slowly dispersed and retired to their dens. Bluestar watched them for a few moments, keeping her gaze trained on Fireheart as he settled down in his nest next to Sandstorm. She purred softly, then bounded down from the Highrock and padded into her own den. Curling up in her nest, she closed her eyes and let sleep overtake her.

* * *

The next morning, Bluestar was unsurprised to find Fireheart already awake, watching the dawn sun as it rose above Fourtrees. She was more concerned, however, by the fact that he wasn't showing any interest in eating even though he hadn't had any fresh-kill since the previous afternoon. His fur seemed slightly ruffled as well, as though he'd had a nightmare.

Tigerclaw padded out of the warriors' den, passing by Fireheart as he headed over to Bluestar. The flame-colored tom nodded half-absentmindedly as the deputy passed, but otherwise gave no indication that he'd ever seen him. Tigerclaw meowed something in reply and Bluestar saw a brief look of annoyance flash across Fireheart's face before the dark tabby turned away and walked over to her.

"Bluestar," he greeted her, dipping his head politely.

"Tigerclaw," Bluestar replied. "Will you call Fireheart and tell him to wake up Sandstorm and Graystripe? I have a mission for the three of them."

"What are they doing?" Tigerclaw asked.

"I want to send them to bring WindClan home," Bluestar meowed.

She knew it would be a dangerous mission and part of her didn't want her son to put himself at risk again. But she also knew that Fireheart would probably sneak off on the mission himself if she didn't let him go. Besides, it wasn't as if she could protect him forever, much as she would have liked to. The past few moons had certainly proven that.

Tigerclaw nodded and bounded back over to Fireheart, meowing something to the younger warrior. Fireheart nodded and raced back over to the warriors' den, disappearing through the entrance. A few heartbeats later, he reemerged with a surprisingly awake Sandstorm and a much more drowsy-looking Graystripe in tow. They padded over to Bluestar and Tigerclaw, looking at them curiously.

Bluestar began at once. "Fireheart, Sandstorm, Graystripe, I have a mission for the three of you."

"A mission?" Fireheart echoed.

"I want you to find WindClan and bring them back to their territory," Bluestar announced.

"Before you get too excited, bear in mind that this could be very dangerous," Tigerclaw growled. "We don't know where WindClan has gone, so you will have to follow what's left of their scent trail–probably into hostile territory."

_Oh wow, I wonder what it would be like to venture into hostile territory. _Bluestar could practically read the sarcastic thoughts on her son's face.

"But you've been through WindClan territory when you traveled with me to the Moonstone," she pointed out. "Their scent will be familiar, as will the Twoleg territory beyond the uplands."

"Will it just be us?" asked Sandstorm.

"Our warriors are needed here," Tigerclaw answered. "Leaf-bare is coming, and we need as many warriors to gather fresh-kill as possible. Many prey-poor moons are coming."

Bluestar nodded. "Tigerclaw will help you prepare for the journey. You must leave as quickly as possible. Good luck."

She addressed the last of her words to all three warriors but kept her gaze mostly trained on Fireheart. Fortunately, no one seemed to notice except for him, but he gave no indication that he'd realized anything was amiss except for a single twitch of his whiskers. Tigerclaw led them out of the den, and Bluestar watched them as they walked over to Yellowfang's clearing.

Bluestar sighed, padding over to her nest and lying down. She wanted desperately to tell Fireheart the truth, but it just never seemed to be the right time. There always seemed to be too much going on, and she didn't want to add to his worries either. Her only hope was that he would make it home safe from this mission so she'd still have more time to spend with her kit. And maybe, someday, the right moment would finally come.


	4. Rescuing WindClan

After swallowing the traveling herbs Yellowfang had given them, Fireheart, Sandstorm, and Graystripe set off on their journey to find the missing WindClan warriors and return them to their territory. As they padded through the forestland, they ran into the dawn patrol, who were heading back to the camp.

"Good morning. You three are out early for a hunting patrol," Runningwind observed.

"We're not on a patrol, actually. Bluestar sent us on a mission," Graystripe replied proudly.

"What for?" Dustpaw sneered. "You off to catch voles?"

"No, we were sent to look for some nice Twolegs that can take you in so the Clan doesn't have to put up with you," Fireheart snapped, and Sandstorm and Graystripe snickered. He didn't have time for Dustpaw's attitude today. "Well, we can't stay long, Runningwind, but we'll see you when we get back home."

Runningwind dipped his head. "May StarClan light your path."

Fireheart nodded and the rescue patrol continued on their way to the WindClan border. Dustpaw sneered at Fireheart as he passed, and it was all the ginger tom could do to restrain himself from clawing the apprentice over the ears. Even if he was jealous about being the only apprentice left behind, what right did he have to disrespect the new warriors? In all honesty, Fireheart didn't think Dustpaw deserved to earn his warrior name.

"StarClan, help us all when that good-for-nothing waste of fresh-kill becomes a warrior," he ranted to Sandstorm and Graystripe, once they were out of earshot. "He's going to be even more unbearable than he is now. If it were anyone except Darkstripe, I would be sorry for Dustpaw's mentor. Imagine having to teach _him _how to be a proper ThunderClan warrior."

"I know," Sandstorm agreed. "He never used to be like this before. I guess he just never got over the fact that you joined the Clan."

"It's not only the fact that Fireheart joined the Clan, but it's also the fact that he's better than Dustpaw," Graystripe chimed in. "He's a better hunter, a better fighter, and a better cat. Dustpaw's just a cat with average skills who no one wants to be friends with because he's a bully. Remember when he tried to sabotage Ravenflight's assessment?"

"I remember," Fireheart agreed. "I think that was the only time I ever saw Tigerclaw actually support Ravenflight on something."

Fireheart also remembered that Ravenflight and Dustpaw were littermates, and he felt a current of sympathy run through him for the black tom. He couldn't imagine how it would feel to have a brother who was so bitter and jealous that he would try to sabotage his own littermate's hunting assessment. It was no wonder why nobody in ThunderClan wanted to be friends with Dustpaw. Perhaps it was mean-spirited of him to think so, but Fireheart couldn't help feeling that Dustpaw was getting exactly what he deserved.

They had reached the uplands now. Side by side, the three ThunderClan warriors padded through the barren moor, keeping a sharp eye out for any patrols from the other Clans. Fireheart had no doubt that RiverClan and ShadowClan would want to take advantage of WindClan's unoccupied hunting grounds, especially since they knew that they would be returning soon. The last thing they needed was to run into any trespassing patrols, or worse, into Nightpelt, who would be on his way to receive his nine lives from StarClan.

Suddenly, Sandstorm let out a sharp hiss. Looking ahead, Fireheart spotted a RiverClan patrol headed by a warrior named Blackclaw stalking a rabbit. They had their backs turned and the wind was blowing in their direction, so he knew that the patrol couldn't have realized they were there. Nevertheless, he knew that if they didn't find somewhere to hide soon, they would be spotted for sure. Nervously, Fireheart glanced around for something they could all slip into, his eyes eventually falling onto an old badger set. He padded over to the badger hole and sniffed tentatively. The scent was strong but stale.

"In here," he meowed softly. "We'll wait here for the patrol to leave."

"Are you sure?" Sandstorm asked, eyeing the hole warily. "What if there's a badger inside?"

"I checked. It doesn't smell great, but it's stale. I don't think any badgers have been in here for some time," Fireheart answered, slipping into the hole. "Come on, hurry. Before the RiverClan cats see us."

Reluctantly, Sandstorm and Graystripe followed him into the badger set, screwing their faces up in disgust at the stench. Fireheart couldn't blame them. It _was _a horrendous smell, after all. But on the other hand, at least it would be effective in hiding their scent from the RiverClan patrol if the wind decided to change direction. A few moments of dealing with an unpleasant scent was far more preferable to battling enemy warriors on territory that didn't even belong to either of their Clans. Besides, at least there weren't any badgers in the hole, although Fireheart promised himself that he would leave out this little detail if Bluestar happened to ask about their journey. His former mentor was already overprotective enough as it was, and he didn't want to think about what she would do to him if she found out he had decided to hide in a badger hole.

After a while, the voices of the RiverClan warriors faded away. Fireheart stuck his head out and peered around nervously, but there was no sign of them anywhere. Breathing a sigh of relief, he climbed out of their hiding spot, signaling to his friends that it was safe to come out.

"Thank StarClan that's over," Sandstorm meowed, wrinkling her nose as she tried to lick the stench out of her fur. "I hope I never have to hide in another badger hole as long as I live."

"Sorry," Fireheart chuckled sheepishly, and she flicked his ears fondly. "Hey, look on the bright side, though. At least we didn't have to befriend any real badgers."

Sandstorm rolled her eyes and replied playfully, "Yeah, you would hate that, wouldn't you? After all, our new badger friend just _might _replace you."

Fireheart nudged her affectionately and replied, "Well, I guess it's a good thing we didn't find one then, isn't it?"

Sandstorm laughed, her pale green eyes glowing as she looked Fireheart. He met her gaze for a few heartbeats, then looked away, his pelt prickling. A warm feeling was spreading throughout his body, and while it wasn't an uncomfortable or even an unpleasant sensation, he wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. He had noticed it several times starting when he was still an apprentice and Sandstorm would offer to share meals with him. But it never happened when he looked at any of the other mollies in ThunderClan, so what was different about her?

_I'm sure the answer is supposed to be obvious, _Fireheart thought wryly. _Oh well, I suppose I'll figure it out eventually. _

As the sun was beginning to go down, they reached the edge of the Twoleg territory past WindClan's hunting grounds. They passed by Barley's barn, and Fireheart wondered how the loner was faring. The last time they had seen him, Tigerclaw had driven him away in fury, believing him to have sent them into a trap after they were attacked by rats. Fireheart maintained the belief that Barley hadn't known about the rats and had only been trying to protect them from the dogs that occupied the Twoleg farmland, but he knew there would be no convincing Tigerclaw of that fact. Not that there was any need to now, of course. That was all in the past now, after all.

They followed the scent to the edge of the Thunderpath, where it stopped abruptly. Confused, Fireheart sniffed harder, wondering if perhaps his scent glands were simply growing tired from use if that was even possible. But a quick glance at Sandstorm and Graystripe told him they couldn't pick up WindClan's scent anymore either, and he felt a pang of desperation. Surely they couldn't have lost the trail now, after coming so far?

* * *

"Well, the trail must be somewhere around here," Sandstorm meowed, sniffing around anxiously. "Fireheart, let's go to the other side and check around there. Graystripe, you stay here and see if you can find anything."

Fireheart nodded and padded to the edge of the Thunderpath beside the pale ginger molly. They waited as several monsters flew by, ruffling their fur unpleasantly, then raced across the foul-smelling path, not stopping until they were safely on the grass on the opposite side. Panting with exhaustion, Fireheart and Sandstorm crouched beneath a hedge, all senses alert for any sign of WindClan warriors.

"Do you smell anything?" he asked Sandstorm.

"Not yet," Sandstorm replied, still sniffing at the air. Almost immediately after answering, however, she suddenly froze. "Wait, yes! Yes, I do. It's faint, but they've definitely come this way."

Fireheart nodded and called as loudly as he could for Graystripe to join them. There was a pause, then the sound of footsteps pounding the ground as the gray warrior raced across the Thunderpath.

"Have you found them?" his friend asked.

"I'm not sure," Sandstorm mused. "There's definitely a scent, but I'm having trouble pinpointing it. Maybe once we get away from the Thunderpath..."

She pushed her way through the hedge, with Fireheart and Graystripe following close behind. The flame-pelted warrior spotted an open field in front of them and lifted his nose toward it. "Have you any idea what's over there?"

"Not a clue," Graystripe meowed. "I don't think any Clan cats have ever been this far."

"Except WindClan," Fireheart muttered darkly. Away from the confusing fumes of the Thunderpath, the trail was suddenly clear. WindClan had definitely come this way. The three cats padded through the long grass, straight across the field.

"Fireheart, Sandstorm!" Graystripe hissed, sounding alarmed.

"What?"

"What's the matter?"

"Look!"

Fireheart and Sandstorm stopped and lifted their heads. Ahead of them, there was a Thunderpath arching high into the air on massive legs of stone, illuminated by the eyes of the monsters that moved along it. Another Thunderpath ran below, veering off into the darkness. The ginger tom stared in disbelief. Could it be possible that WindClan had settled near the Thunderpaths?

Sandstorm, meanwhile, was inhaling a tall thistle nearby. "WindClan scent," she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. "And fresh too. They definitely settled somewhere around here."

"Why would they come to a place like this?" Graystripe asked, his voice full of amazement. Fireheart was wondering the same thing.

"I suppose not even Brokenstar would want to follow them here," Fireheart mused. Then another thought crossed his mind. "If WindClan were willing to come all the way out to a place like this, they're probably pretty desperate not to be found. It's probably not a good idea to creep up on them in the dark. Let's wait until morning when it's light out."

"Does that mean we can rest?" the gray warrior asked hopefully, sitting down heavily. Perhaps due to how thick his coat was, he lacked the same endurance that Fireheart and Sandstorm had.

"Just until it's light," Fireheart replied. "We'll find a place to sleep and then we'll keep following the scent once it's light out."

They searched around for a place to sleep, away from any wild animals or Twolegs that might try to take them back to their nests. Finally, Fireheart spotted a hole poking out from near the Thunderpath. After confirming that it wasn't a badger or a fox hole, the three warriors climbed inside to settle down for the night. As it turned out, the hole was actually a tunnel. They padded a little way into it until the path had leveled out. Fireheart's fur bristled as he heard the roar of a monster from overhead. Were they _underneath _the Thunderpath?

"Do you think we're safe from monsters here?" Graystripe asked.

"Probably," Fireheart answered, with more confidence than he felt. "I don't think they'd be able to fit into these tunnels the way we can. And anyway, they don't seem to be too bright."

"True," the gray warrior agreed, letting out a yawn. "Well, good night, you two."

He curled up and settled down to sleep. A few moments later, Sandstorm lay down as well, her flank rising and falling gently as she dozed. Fireheart, however, remained awake long after his friends had fallen asleep. Perhaps it was the excitement of their mission or his underlying worry about the recent nightmare he'd had about the Thunderpath, but the flame-colored tom didn't feel the least bit tired. He curled up next to Sandstorm and closed his eyes, but sleep continued to evade him.

Eventually, Fireheart could see a faint gray light filtering in through the end of the tunnel. It must have been dawn, or almost at least. He nudged his friends awake, Graystripe grumbling tiredly, "Morning already?"

"Almost," he replied, getting to his paws. Sandstorm and Graystripe got up as well.

"Did you sleep at all, Fireheart?" Sandstorm asked. "You look like you've been awake for days."

"Come on, let's go back this way," Fireheart meowed, deciding to pretend as if he hadn't heard the question. "I think this tunnel leads under a Thunderpath. It might take us closer to the...whatever that thing we saw last night was."

Without waiting for a response, he padded off into the darkness. The ground was cold and hard beneath his paws, but he kept a brisk pace going. Before long, Fireheart spotted light ahead of them. The three cats quickened their pace until they were racing up a short, steep slope that led into a world filled with gray dawn light.

They had come up near the edge of a patch of barren, dirty grass. Thunderpaths enclosed it on two sides and another arched overhead. A fire burned in the middle of the grass. Several Twolegs were lying around it, apparently asleep. Fireheart almost envied their ability to sleep next to such a horrid stench and not be bothered by it.

"How can they stand sleeping next to that smell?" Graystripe asked in disbelief.

"They travel over the Thunderpath inside monsters all the time. I guess they're used to it by now," Fireheart answered, eyeing the Twolegs warily. "Plus their sense of smell isn't as good as ours. Although, I do wonder why they decided to sleep out here instead of in one of their nests."

"Look over there!" Sandstorm exclaimed, indicating with her nose toward the fire. Peering ahead, Fireheart saw the dark outlines of several cats dancing back and forth in front of the flames. "Do you think that's WindClan?"

"Must be," Fireheart mused. "We followed their scent all the way here, and I didn't pick up the trails of any rogues. Did you?"

"No," the pale-ginger molly meowed.

Graystripe's eyes shone with triumph. "We found them!"

"True, but we still have to convince them that it's safe to return home," Fireheart pointed out. He hated being the pessimistic one, but someone had to take a realistic standpoint. "Not to mention getting back there at all, and who knows how difficult that would be with an entire Clan instead of just the three of us."

Just then, one of the Twolegs awoke with a jolt and began shouting at the ragged cats around the fire. How their presence woke him up when the noise from the monsters hadn't, Fireheart had no idea. The noise woke up the other Twolegs, who joined in with rough, angry voices.

The WindClan cats fled. Forgetting all about the danger they were in, the three ThunderClan warriors took after them. Even though they knew it was a bad idea to run towards the Twolegs, there wasn't much choice in this scenario. They couldn't afford to lose sight of the WindClan warriors again.

Fireheart and Sandstorm, being the fastest of the three of them, quickly overtook Graystripe. The angry voices of the Twolegs continued to follow them. Then Fireheart felt a sharp pang of horror. One of the Twolegs made a grab for Sandstorm, but she managed to slip out of his grasp and raced across into the safety of the shadows beneath the soaring Thunderpath.

Furious, Fireheart spun around just as the Twoleg made another grab for him. He raked his claws down its leg, and the Twoleg howled in pain and fury, blood pouring down from the wound. With its uninjured leg, it kicked Fireheart hard in the stomach, sending the young warrior sprawling several fox-lengths away. Fortunately, it kicked him in the direction of the arching Thunderpath, but Fireheart landed painfully on his back and lay there dazed for several heartbeats before he managed to get up and join Sandstorm. As soon as he had padded over to join her, she began licking his fur furiously.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Her green eyes shone with worry for him and anger at the Twoleg for hurting him. "Are you hurt? Do you need to rest?"

"I'm alright," Fireheart reassured her, wincing slightly. His stomach still throbbed from where the Twoleg had kicked him, but he expected that it would pass sooner or later. "Just a bit winded."

Sandstorm nodded. "I swear, those good-for-nothing Twolegs..." she hissed.

Graystripe raced over to join them. Still recovering from his encounter with the Twoleg, Fireheart turned his head and watched as the WindClan cats stepped over to one of the Thunderpath's great stone legs. As they padded forward, one by one, the ground seemed to swallow them up.

"Where did they go?" Graystripe asked, amazed.

"Another tunnel?" Sandstorm guessed. "Come on, let's go follow them."

The three friends walked forward in the direction where the WindClan cats had vanished. Cautiously, Fireheart padded forward and gave a sniff. Another hole was peering out from the ground, leading to a tunnel lined with stone. The tunnel veered away into the darkness, much like their resting place had.

He led the way down the tunnel, keeping his nose and ears alert for any sign of a WindClan patrol. It was almost too dark to see anything, so Fireheart kept a slower pace. The foul smell of the Thunderpath mingled in with the fear-scent of WindClan cats, and he wondered how anyone could bear living in such conditions. His paws ached as he padded along the stone-cold ground, and his stomach still throbbed from where the Twoleg had kicked him.

After what felt like moons of walking, Fireheart's whiskers sensed a turning in the tunnel. He flicked his tail, lightly touching Sandstorm and Graystripe's legs with its tip to warn them to stop. Fireheart couldn't see his friends in the darkness, but he felt them stop beside him and knew they must have felt the signal. Together, they peered around the corner.

Ahead of them, Fireheart could make out the shapes of several cats huddled together in the gray light filtering in through a hole in the tunnel ceiling. Even from his vantage point, he could see how pitifully thin they were. A cold breeze ruffled the fur on their bodies, and he forced himself not to gag as he inhaled the stench of sickness.

Suddenly, the roar of a monster sounded from overhead. The ThunderClan cats jumped in fright, but the WindClan cats didn't react. Fireheart suspected that they were either too tired or simply too used to living under the noise to even take notice now.

_How long were they planning on staying here? _Fireheart wondered. _Surely not forever. There's no way they could all live here without starving to death. _

The noise died away. Fireheart took a deep breath and stepped around the corner, into the thin light.

At once, he realized that he had probably made a terrible mistake. One of the warriors yowled a warning to the rest of his Clanmates. Before Fireheart could say or do anything, the WindClan warriors formed one long line in front of the queens and elders. Their backs were arched and their teeth and claws glinted in the faint light. Every single one of them was glaring at him with hostility, fear, and hatred clear in their eyes.

_You've got to be bloody kidding me right now. _

_I hate rescue missions. _

Well, if he died now, he would just have to make sure to pay Bluestar a visit from StarClan every once in a while. That is, assuming they let him in. Fireheart just hoped that being born a kittypet wouldn't cause him to have as much trouble joining StarClan as it had in joining ThunderClan.


	5. Returning Home

A skinny black and white tom with an unusually long tail padded forward. Although he had never met him before, Fireheart knew immediately from Graystripe's description who this cat must have been: Tallstar, the leader of WindClan. He sniffed at them cautiously, his warriors still lined up with their hackles raised behind him.

"ThunderClan," he growled. Behind him, the line of WindClan warriors relaxed their aggressive stances, though they didn't move from in front of the queens and elders. "I was expecting ShadowClan," Tallstar continued, turning back towards Fireheart, Sandstorm, and Graystripe, his eyes flashing with hostility. "What are you doing here?"

"We were sent to bring you home," Fireheart answered, keeping his voice as even as possible. It wasn't an easy feat when someone was trying to burn a hole into one's head with their eyes. On the bright side, at least the pain from getting kicked in the stomach had faded.

"That land is not safe for my Clan anymore," Tallstar replied, a hunted look in his eyes. Fireheart felt a pang of sympathy for the scrawny WindClan leader.

"Brokenstar and his followers have been driven out of the forest. Nightpelt–well, Nightstar by now, probably–has taken over ShadowClan's leadership. You don't have to worry about being driven out again," Graystripe meowed.

"You'll want to get back home quickly," Sandstorm added. "While we were on our way here, we saw a patrol of RiverClan cats hunting in the uplands."

Tallstar bristled angrily.

"But we don't think they caught anything," Fireheart added quickly. "RiverClan warriors are poor rabbit hunters–well, poor land hunters in general–so they went home with empty stomachs. Hopefully, they'll think to stick to their slimy fish next time."

"Indeed," the WindClan leader meowed, his eyes gleaming with amusement. "You three must be fairly new warriors, then? I don't believe I've ever seen you at Gatherings before."

"We are," Sandstorm confirmed. "We just received our warrior names a few nights ago. I'm Sandstorm, and this fat gray tom is Graystripe."

"Ah, of course. I remember Bluestar announcing your apprentice name, Sandstorm," Tallstar meowed. Then he turned to Fireheart. "And who might you be?"

"Fireheart," the flame-pelted warrior answered, dipping his head respectfully.

"Fireheart," Tallstar echoed, gazing at him appraisingly. In the light filtering in through the tunnel, Fireheart's pelt blazed like a raging inferno. "That's a fine name. Very fitting as well."

Fireheart was pleased by the WindClan leader's comment, although he wondered what made Tallstar think his name was fitting. They had only known each other for a few moments, so he couldn't have much of an idea on anything about him except for his appearance, and Fireheart guessed that Tallstar probably couldn't _actually _see his heart. That is unless Clan leaders were gifted with some sort of power where they could quite literally see inside a cat. But then again, that would mean that his heart would have to be on fire for real, which Fireheart was fairly certain was impossible.

On the other hand, that would be fascinating. Maybe one day, something would happen and his heart would be set on fire.

It occurred to Fireheart that he should probably be careful what he wished for.

Tallstar turned his attention back to his Clan. "Are all our cats safe for the journey home?"

"All except Morningflower's kit," answered a mottled brown tabby. "He is too young."

"Then we will take turns carrying him," Tallstar decided.

"May we travel back with you, Tallstar?" Sandstorm asked respectfully. "It's a long way back, and since we're all together now anyway, it would make more sense for us to all go back as one group."

Tallstar studied her for a moment, then nodded. "Very well," he agreed. Turning back to his warriors, he added, "Is everyone ready to leave?"

Meows of agreement sounded from the WindClan warriors. Fireheart could see their eyes beginning to light up as if the prospect of returning home had finally begun to sink in.

"Good," Tallstar meowed, turning towards the tunnel entrance. "Then we leave now."

* * *

The journey back to Clan territory was long and treacherous. Along the way, a few elders were nearly run over by a monster on the Thunderpath, but Fireheart and Sandstorm were able to help them cross just in time. On the bright side, he managed to befriend Morningflower and a young WindClan tom named Onewhisker. Even Gorsekit, Morningflower's son, seemed to take a liking to him, although he was only a moon old at most from what Fireheart could tell, so he couldn't be sure.

Eventually, they reached the Twoleg land just beyond WindClan territory. Fireheart glanced around at the exhausted cats, then at the sky. The sun was slowly sinking lower and lower, and he knew that at the pace they were moving, there was no way they could be home before dark.

Evidently, the WindClan deputy, Deadfoot, thought the same because he called out, "Tallstar? It's getting late. I think we should find a place to rest for the night and then continue our journey in the morning."

Tallstar glanced up at the sky, then nodded. "We'll find shelter for tonight. Is there a place nearby we can stay?"

Graystripe called out, "There's a loner, Barley, who lives in a barn around here. We could ask him if we can share his barn for the night."

There was no complaint from the WindClan warriors, although Fireheart guessed that some of them were too tired to protest. Briefly, he wondered what their reaction would have been if he'd suggested they sleep near Twolegs. Shaking off the thought, he turned around and padded towards Barley's barn, Sandstorm walking step for step with him.

When they entered the barn, Barley was seated on a pile of hay, chewing a large rat. He looked up when the cats began filtering in, his eyes lighting up in recognition when he spotted Fireheart, Sandstorm, and Graystripe.

"Greetings," he called out to them. "You're Firepaw, Sandpaw, and Graypaw, aren't you? Bluestar introduced us when you traveled with her to Highstones."

"Fireheart, Sandstorm, and Graystripe, actually," Fireheart corrected him.

"Ah, you've received your warrior names, then? Congratulations," Barley meowed sincerely.

Tallstar moved forward. "Barley, may we share your barn tonight?" he asked politely. "I know there are quite a lot of us, but we need a place to stay for the night before we return home."

"Make yourselves comfortable," the loner invited. "There's plenty of room, and there will be more than enough rats to feed your warriors."

Nodding his head in thanks, Tallstar turned to Deadfoot and ordered him to organize a small hunting party while the queens and elders got settled in for the night. Sandstorm and Graystripe went with them, but Fireheart decided to stay behind. The past few days of barely sleeping were finally getting to him, and he wanted to get at least one good night's sleep sometime within the next moon. Curling up in the far corner of the barn, Fireheart closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber. He didn't even stir when the hunting party returned and the journeying cats began feasting, or notice when Sandstorm curled up beside him as the moon was rising into the sky.

When Fireheart finally woke up, it was to the alarmed meows of several warriors. Blinking his eyes open, he saw a throng of cats surrounding the WindClan medicine cat, Barkface. Sandstorm and Graystripe sat a few tail-lengths away, their expressions tense. Curious, Fireheart padded closer to see what was going on.

"What is it, Barkface?" Morningflower asked. "Has StarClan spoken to you? What is it?"

"The clouds are stained with blood!" Barkface rasped, his eyes wide. "It is a sign from our ancestors. There is trouble ahead. This day shall bring an unnecessary death."

For a moment, no cat moved or spoke. Then Deadfoot meowed, "Any cat could see those clouds. We can't be sure that they're meant for us."

Tallstar nodded. "Whatever StarClan has in store for us, we must return home today. I can smell more rain in the air. It is time we set off."

Fireheart was relieved by the WindClan leader's practical tone. The last thing they needed was to panic over an ominous prophecy. On the other hand, he couldn't help hoping that the omen wasn't meant for either of their Clans. If WindClan suffered a casualty right as they were returning home, it might convince Tallstar that it wasn't safe for them to stay after all.

It was past sunhigh by the time they reached the WindClan camp. A steady rain had begun to fall, soaking all of them to the bone, but the WindClan warriors held their heads high, their spirits lifted at being back in their territory. Fireheart noticed that Graystripe looked considerably less pleased, but even he wasn't complaining about the wet weather as much as he normally would. The excitement of the WindClan cats was contagious, and it was hard to feel bad-tempered at a time like this.

After the queens and elders had gotten settled back into their dens, Tallstar turned to Fireheart, Sandstorm, and Graystripe. "You have brought us home, and my Clan thanks you," he meowed. "But now it is time for you to return to your own territory. Onewhisker and Deadfoot will escort you to Fourtrees."

Fireheart dipped his head respectfully. "Thank you, Tallstar."

At first, the journey to Fourtrees was relatively uneventful. Fireheart and Sandstorm walked side by side for most of the way, earning them some knowing looks from Deadfoot. The ginger tom wondered what it was with everyone and looking at him and Sandstorm that way. Why did everyone take so much interest in their relationship? Actually, for that matter, why did he even care?

Eventually, however, Graystripe suddenly began to slow down. "My paws ache," the gray warrior grumbled. "It's going to take forever to reach Fourtrees. Why don't we head into RiverClan territory and follow the river? We could follow the gorge. RiverClan warriors don't hunt there; it's too steep for them to get down. It would be easy to pass through there."

"I don't think so." Fireheart shot down the idea at once. "What if we run into a patrol? I can't imagine that they'll be too happy if they find us on their territory."

"They know that we're bringing WindClan home, though. And it's not like we're hunting," Graystripe meowed dismissively.

"It's not worth the risk," Sandstorm meowed, siding with Fireheart. "Just because they know we were bringing WindClan home doesn't mean they agreed to let us pass through their territory. Let's just go to Fourtrees. It'll take longer, but it's safer."

Deadfoot spoke up, "If you and Fireheart want to go to Fourtrees, Onewhisker can escort you there. I'll go with Graystripe through RiverClan territory."

Fireheart hesitated, but Graystripe meowed, "That sounds like a good plan. I'll see you two back at the camp, then."

Nodding goodbye to Fireheart and Sandstorm, he turned and padded off in the direction of WindClan territory, with Deadfoot limping along just behind him. Fireheart watched them go, wondering if he should have gone with them after all. He didn't want Graystripe to run into trouble with any RiverClan warriors, after all.

"Are you okay, Fireheart?" Sandstorm asked, her eyes filled with worry.

"I'm fine," Fireheart reassured her. "Just a little worried about Graystripe. Do you think we should have gone after them?"

"No," the pale ginger molly meowed firmly. "Graystripe is making a terrible decision. If he wants to get himself caught by a RiverClan patrol, he can do that. I'm not breaking the warrior code for his sake."

"You're right," Fireheart agreed, turning his head away from the spot where Graystripe and Deadfoot had disappeared from. "Let's get to Fourtrees, then."

As they padded through the uplands towards Fourtrees, however, Fireheart couldn't shake off the nagging feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong, and he could only pray that he was just being overly worrisome.


	6. First Apprentice

Although he knew they had taken the safer route, Fireheart had to admit that Graystripe had been right about the RiverClan route being the quicker path. He glanced up at the sky and saw that the sun was beginning to set. By now, Graystripe had probably arrived back at the camp and was enjoying what was left of the fresh-kill pile. Fireheart just hoped that he would save a piece for him and Sandstorm.

Needless to say, he was extremely surprised when they arrived back at camp and found no sign of Graystripe anywhere.

"Fireheart, Sandstorm," Bluestar greeted them, padding over to the two warriors. "Welcome back. I hear you brought WindClan home safely."

So Graystripe was back in the camp. Perhaps he had decided to take a nap and was back in the warriors' den. It _had _been a long journey, after all. But the expression on Bluestar's face told him that something had happened. Her tone was warm, but there was a weary, almost grim look in her icy blue eyes that sent a pang of foreboding through Fireheart's veins.

"Er, yes. Yes, we did," he replied finally.

Bluestar nodded. "Come with me," she ordered. "There's something I need to talk to the two of you about."

Confused, Fireheart and Sandstorm glanced at each other before following the blue-gray molly into her den. Once they were inside, Bluestar settled herself down in her nest and turned to face the two warriors. She studied them for a few heartbeats, the expression in her blue eyes mostly unreadable. Fireheart's paws prickled uncomfortably, and he wondered what she needed to talk to them about.

Finally, she meowed, "Graystripe told me that the three of you decided to split up on the journey home. Is that true?"

"Well...yes and no," Sandstorm answered. "Graystripe got tired and wanted to take a shorter route home by going through RiverClan territory, but Fireheart and I thought it was a bad idea. We decided to go to the Fourtrees route, and Graystripe went through RiverClan territory."

"We tried to warn him that it was a bad idea," Fireheart added. "But he wouldn't listen to us. We told him that RiverClan wouldn't like it if they found us on their territory, but all he said was that it was fine because we weren't going to be hunting."

"So you tried to convince him to go to Fourtrees instead, but you couldn't make him listen," Bluestar murmured. As her eyes met Fireheart's a gentle look of understanding flashed in their blue depths. "Thank you, Fireheart and Sandstorm. That's all I needed to know. You two, go get something to eat and then you can go to sleep. Graystripe might have told Ravenflight already, but in case he hasn't, let him know that the four of you will be receiving apprentices tomorrow. I've talked to Frostfur, Fireheart, and she personally requested that you be allowed to mentor Cinderkit–although I have a feeling that Cinderkit wouldn't accept anyone else."

Her eyes were sparkling with amusement, and for a moment, Fireheart felt elated. He had been hoping to receive Cinderkit as his first apprentice, and now that it was happening, it almost felt better than the night he'd become a warrior. The little gray molly was extremely spirited and he knew that she would be a fast and eager learner.

Then another thought crossed his mind. Why was he being given his first apprentice now? None of Frostfur's kits were six moons old yet, but Bluestar was planning on making them all apprentices early. This was definite proof that something must have happened to Graystripe, but for the life of him, Fireheart couldn't imagine what. He figured that a RiverClan patrol might have caught Graystripe, but surely Bluestar wouldn't apprentice four kits early over that.

"Bluestar?" he asked tentatively. "If you don't mind me asking...why are Frostfur's kits being made apprentices early? It's still a while until they reach six moons, isn't it?"

At that, Bluestar's eyes suddenly turned grim. "Ah. Well, as it turns out, there was an incident with a RiverClan patrol today. Graystripe was caught trespassing by a border patrol, and there was a battle. One of the RiverClan warriors fell into the gorge."

"But–but RiverClan warriors can swim, right?" Fireheart meowed, struggling to understand what his leader was getting at. "So couldn't he–or whoever it was–just have swum to safety?"

"Not from there," Bluestar told him regretfully. "That's a very, _very _steep drop...and the water is cold and the current is too strong for cats to swim in down there. The RiverClan warrior drowned instantly."

"No!" Fireheart and Sandstorm exclaimed.

"I'm afraid so," Bluestar confirmed. "But now isn't the time to worry about that. You two look dead on your paws. Go now, go get some rest. You've earned it."

Fireheart padded out of the den with Sandstorm, his mind reeling. He knew he should be more excited about the prospect of getting his first apprentice, but all he could think about was the death of the RiverClan warrior. That was about the worst thing that could have possibly happened because now RiverClan had a legitimate reason to attack ThunderClan if they wanted. Had Graystripe _killed _the warrior?

_No, _Fireheart decided at once. Graystripe didn't always have the best judgment, but he would never stoop to killing another cat. From what Bluestar had told him, the gorge sounded like a terrible place for a fight. The RiverClan warrior's death had probably been nothing more than an unfortunate accident.

The two warriors headed over to the warriors' den, too exhausted now to even think about eating. As he pushed his way through the lichen, Fireheart saw Graystripe curled up in his nest. His eyes were closed, but the absence of his usual snores told Fireheart that he wasn't asleep.

"Graystripe?" he meowed quietly, but the gray warrior didn't respond.

Deciding to leave him alone, Fireheart curled up in his own nest beside Sandstorm and waited for Ravenflight to return. Several moments passed with no sign of the black tom, however, and Fireheart was finding it increasingly difficult to keep his eyes open. At long last, he closed his eyes and gave in to his longing for sleep.

* * *

Fireheart decided to sleep in past dawn the following morning, still worn out from the rescue mission. When he finally woke up, the sun was nearly at its peak and most of the Clan was already awake. Yawning, he stretched his hind legs and padded out of the den over to Sandstorm, who was gnawing on a fat mouse near where the younger warriors ate. She looked up as he settled himself down beside her, purring in welcome.

"Good morning," she greeted him, her eyes gleaming. "Someone slept in today."

"Hey, it's been a long few days," Fireheart defended himself. "I can't stay awake forever, can I?"

"No, I suppose not," Sandstorm agreed, flicking him with her tail.

"By the way, where's Graystripe?" Fireheart asked, glancing around for his friend.

"He went out on a walk," the ginger molly answered, taking another bite of her mouse. "When I saw him, he seemed a bit down. Which I guess is understandable, you know, considering..."

Fireheart nodded, then asked, "Do you think we should have gone with him?"

"Where? To RiverClan?" Sandstorm asked. "No, I think we made the right choice by going to Fourtrees instead. I'm sure the RiverClan warrior drowning was an accident, but there's no need for us to get in trouble with Graystripe just because he wouldn't listen to us when we tried to talk some sense into him."

"I suppose," Fireheart meowed. "I just feel bad that he has to deal with all of this on his own."

"That's his own fault," Sandstorm retorted. "If he'd only listened to us, this wouldn't be happening to him. Don't feel bad, Fireheart. We haven't done anything to be ashamed of. Graystripe will just have to move past what happened."

Fireheart just twitched his ear noncommittally. He knew Sandstorm was right, but a part of him couldn't help feeling guilty for not trying harder to make Graystripe stay with them. Perhaps if he'd just pushed a little harder, he could have convinced Graystripe not to trespass on RiverClan's hunting grounds and none of this would be happening. Graystripe had made his choice, true, but he could have done more to support his friend.

His thoughts were soon distracted, however, as Graystripe padded back into the camp. The gray tom was carrying two pigeons in his jaws, and for a moment, Fireheart was hopeful that perhaps he was beginning to move on. But when he saw the distant look in Graystripe's eyes, those hopes were immediately dashed. Fireheart let out a sigh. It looked as though it would take some time before Graystripe was able to forget about what happened at the RiverClan battle.

Fireheart padded over to Graystripe, who glanced up at him tiredly. "I guess you've heard what happened, then?" his friend meowed.

"I did," Fireheart confirmed. "But I know it wasn't your fault, Graystripe. Bluestar must know it too, or else she wouldn't be giving you an apprentice."

"She's only doing it because I've given RiverClan an excuse to hate us," Graystripe meowed bitterly.

Fireheart wanted to reassure him and tell him that it wasn't his fault, but seeing as he hadn't been at the battle, he doubted his words would have much influence. It wouldn't do any good to soothe Graystripe with empty words. Instead, he nodded and padded back over to Sandstorm, waiting for Bluestar to commence the apprentice ceremony.

A few moments later, she did. The blue-gray queen strolled out of her den beneath the Highrock and leaped on top, giving the familiar call: "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!"

Fireheart and Sandstorm stood up and walked over to sit beside Graystripe and Ravenflight beneath the Highrock. The black tom purred in greeting, and even Graystripe was beginning to look a little more cheerful. Fireheart couldn't blame him–the prospect of getting one's first apprentice was too exciting to keep anyone down for long. Frostfur was leading her kits over to the Highrock, Cinderkit bouncing around excitedly ahead of the rest of her siblings.

"It is time to give four of our warriors their first apprentices," Bluestar began. "Cinderkit, please step forward."

The little gray molly bounced forward excitedly, gazing up at the ThunderClan leader with wide blue eyes.

"From this day on, until she earns her warrior name, this apprentice will be known as Cinderpaw," Bluestar continued. "Fireheart, come forward now."

Cinderpaw's eyes lit up with excitement as Fireheart got to his paws and walked forward to meet his new apprentice. He could see her practically trembling as she waited for Bluestar to finish the ceremony so she could greet him.

"Fireheart, you have shown yourself to be a warrior of exceptional courage and the bond between you and Cinderpaw is strong," his former mentor meowed. "I trust that you will pass on all I have taught you as well as the training you received from Tigerclaw, Lionheart, and Redtail onto your new apprentice."

Fireheart dipped his head in acceptance and bent his head forward to touch noses with Cinderpaw as he'd seen Longtail do with Swiftpaw. The small gray molly returned the gesture enthusiastically, her eyes blazing with admiration and delight.

"Yay!" Cinderpaw cheered, but a warning hiss from Frostfur silenced her and she ducked her head apologetically.

"Brackenkit," Bluestar meowed, turning her attention to the most solemn of Frostfur's kits. "From this moment on, until you earn your warrior name, you will be known as Brackenpaw. Graystripe, step forward."

Graystripe got to his paws and padded forward. To Fireheart's relief, the gleam of pride in his yellow eyes was stronger now. Perhaps he could finally start to put the incident at the gorge behind him.

"Graystripe, you will be the mentor to Brackenpaw," Bluestar meowed. "You had a valuable mentor in Lionheart, and I trust you will pass on all he taught you to this apprentice."

Graystripe nodded his head and lowered his head to touch noses with his apprentice. Brackenpaw didn't squeal in excitement as his sister had, but his eyes were shining with an equal amount of joy. The two walked over to join Fireheart and Cinderpaw before turning to watch the rest of the ceremony.

Fireheart watched as Brightpaw and Thornpaw were apprenticed to Ravenflight and Sandstorm, respectively. Once all four mentors and apprentices had been named, the Clan began the custom of cheering their new names. Fireheart felt a prickle of excitement at the pure happiness in Cinderpaw's eyes. Even Dustpaw's jealousy wasn't enough to curb his pride at being chosen to mentor this free-spirited young cat.

_No matter what happens, I'll make a great warrior out of you, _he vowed. _I swear on my life I will._

* * *

**Fireheart has his apprentice now! I decided to name all four of Frostfur's kits apprentices early because there were three cats on the journey this time, and it wouldn't have made sense for only one kit to be left out. As for why the newest warriors are all mentors, the simple answer for that is...Bluestar's a troll. **

**No seriously, that was pretty much the reason. **

**Thanks for reading! **

**-TheShadowedWarrior **


	7. Training Days and Confessions

As it turned out, Cinderpaw was quite a handful when it came to training. More often than not, Fireheart found himself having to remind her to stay alert for danger and not to rush ahead without him. It was exhausting sometimes, but at the same time, he had to admit that he couldn't have asked for a more eager apprentice. She had a natural talent for hunting as well, and Fireheart hoped that her ability would help temper her eagerness.

During the first few days, Graystripe seemed to prefer training alone, so Fireheart and Cinderpaw spent most of their training sessions with Sandstorm and Thornpaw, with Ravenflight and Brightpaw joining in occasionally. It was clear that Thornpaw shared his littermate, Brackenpaw's, calm and collected nature, while Brightpaw was slightly calmer than Cinderpaw but more rambunctious than her brothers.

On the fourth morning, Fireheart, Sandstorm, Ravenflight, and Graystripe woke up early to take their apprentices on a hunting mission. They had managed to convince Graystripe to join them for training that day, telling him that he couldn't just sit around alone forever. The gray warrior had been reluctant at first but eventually gave in after they kept pressing him (and after Fireheart bribed him with an extra mouse from the fresh-kill pile).

"Well, it looks like Cinderpaw will be all warmed up," Ravenflight noted in amusement. It was true. Fireheart's apprentice was bouncing up and down excitedly, already finished with her breakfast. "You've got your paws full with that one, Fireheart."

"I know," Fireheart chuckled. "Somehow, I have a feeling this is my punishment for almost getting myself killed so many times."

"But you wouldn't trade this for anything, would you?" Sandstorm asked.

"No, I wouldn't," he agreed.

As soon as she saw him, Cinderpaw bounded over to Fireheart. Her siblings followed more slowly, but she didn't pay them any mind. She was far too excited about going out with her mentor again. Sometimes, Fireheart wondered how one cat could have so much energy.

"Where are we going today, Fireheart?" she asked, still bouncing up and down. "Are we going to learn how to fight? Are we going to patrol the borders? Do you think we'll run into any enemy warriors today? You brought WindClan back home, right? Can we go see them? I've always wanted to see what a real WindClan warrior looks like. Frostfur says they're really skinny. Is it true? Why are they so skinny? Do they get enough to eat? Do RiverClan warriors steal their prey, and that's why they're fat and the WindClan warriors are skinny?"

"Well–" Fireheart began, but Cinderpaw was too excited to listen.

"Can we go hunting? Swiftpaw told me that I'm going to learn how to catch purple pigeons," the gray molly meowed. Somehow, she was still bouncing up and down and showed no sign of stopping anytime soon. "Are there really purple pigeons? Tell me, Fireheart. I want to know where the purple pigeons are!"

"Er, I don't think we'll be finding any purple pigeons today," Fireheart meowed apologetically, flicking his ears in embarrassment as Sandstorm, Ravenflight, and Graystripe chuckled. "But we can go hunting if you want and I'll show you how to catch a–"

Unfortunately, it seemed that only two words out of everything Fireheart said had registered in Cinderpaw's mind. With a delighted screech, she turned tail and zoomed out of the gorse tunnel faster than Fireheart had ever seen her run, yowling about how she was going to find the purple pigeons.

Sighing in resignation, Fireheart meowed a quick apology to his friends before chasing after his apprentice. As much as he loved training her, there were definitely times when he wished she would calm down just a little.

* * *

Meanwhile, Bluestar was on her way back from a dawn border patrol with Whitestorm and Mousefur. They had passed Sunningrocks today, where she had found the scent of RiverClan warriors on their side of the river. Her fur pricked angrily just thinking about it. Although she knew that RiverClan would be upset over the death of their warrior, that didn't give them the right to trespass on their territory.

As she headed for the gorse tunnel that led into the ThunderClan camp, Bluestar's fur was ruffled as Cinderpaw zoomed past her. Not even a heartbeat, later, Fireheart appeared as well, chasing after the wayward gray molly.

"Cinderpaw, for StarClan's sake, come back!" he shouted after her. "Swiftpaw was lying to you! There's no such thing as a purple pigeon!"

"What in the name of StarClan was that all about?" Mousefur asked, staring after the flame-pelted warrior in amazement. "What's all this about purple pigeons?"

"Who knows?" Bluestar asked, feeling a twinge of mingled sympathy and amusement for her kit. It looked like Fireheart was going to have quite the day ahead of him. "Perhaps someone should check to make sure the fresh-kill hasn't been tainted with catmint."

Catmint was an herb normally used to treat greencough, and Yellowfang had been gathering some recently in preparation for the long, cold leaf-bare ahead. In addition to being a medicine, however, Bluestar had also seen how the herb could affect a cat's behavior. She still remembered the first time Whitestorm, as a small kit, had accidentally gotten into Goosefeather's herb store and practically inhaled half the supply of catmint. He had spent the rest of the day alternating between throwing up the herb and laughing at clouds, much to Bluestar's horror (although she couldn't help feeling slightly cheered by Thistleclaw's blatant terror he saw what his son had turned into).

The patrol padded in through the gorse tunnel, nearly bumping into Graystripe, Sandstorm, and Ravenflight as they were coming out with their own apprentices in tow. Sandstorm, who was leading the group, doubled back slightly to avoid running headlong into her leader.

"Oh–sorry, Bluestar," she meowed apologetically.

"No need," Bluestar replied kindly. "Are you off to find Fireheart, then?"

"Yes," Ravenflight confirmed. "I'm sure he's probably far into the territory by now if Cinderpaw's energy is any indication."

"She's got a lot of energy, that's for sure," Sandstorm remarked. "I'm impressed that Fireheart's able to keep up with her as well as he does."

There was a glow in her eyes as she spoke Fireheart's name that Bluestar recognized as the same look she'd seen in Snowfur's eyes when she talked about Thistleclaw, or in Frostfur's eyes when she looked at Lionheart. More so, she'd seen that same look in Fireheart's eyes whenever he was around Sandstorm. How the pair hadn't become mates yet, Bluestar had no idea.

"Indeed," the ThunderClan leader meowed in amusement. "Well, I won't keep you any longer, then. Ravenflight, Graystripe, go on and catch up with Fireheart. Thornpaw, go with them as well. Sandstorm, there's just one thing I want to talk to you about."

Sandstorm looked at her as the rest of the mentors and apprentices padded off, a confused expression in her pale green eyes. There was a hint of worry there as well as if she thought she was in trouble for something.

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble," Bluestar meowed, and the younger queen relaxed visibly.

"But what's the matter, then?" Sandstorm asked, her expression still full of bewilderment. "If I'm not in trouble, then why do we need to talk in private?"

Bluestar paused for a few moments. She wasn't sure if what she was about to do was the wisest decision in the world, but she felt it was the best course of action. Every cat in the Clan could see that Sandstorm and Fireheart were incredibly fond of each other–indeed, it had been obvious ever since they were apprentices and Fireheart first returned to the Clan. Unfortunately, Fireheart also seemed to suffer from the same condition that all toms suffered from–that is to say, he was too mouse-brained to realize when someone was interested in him. Indeed, he barely seemed to realize his own feelings for Sandstorm. Bluestar wanted her son to be happy, but first, he needed someone to push him in the right direction.

Also, she would be lying if she said she wasn't fond of the idea of having grandchildren–ones that she could watch grow up in her own Clan.

"I've seen how close you and Fireheart are," she meowed finally, and Sandstorm's eyes widened. "Don't try to deny it, I'm an old cat and I know what young love looks like. But I'm here to tell you that if you want to make any sort of progress with him, you're going to have to be the one that makes the first move."

"Are-are you sure?" Sandstorm stammered. "What if he rejects me? Do you think he actually likes me that way?"

"He won't reject you," Bluestar reassured her. "However, he _is _a tom, and they can be rather mouse-brained when it comes to recognizing their own feelings. But he'll come round if you make him see sense."

"Do you think so?" Sandstorm asked, her green eyes shining with hope.

"I do," Bluestar meowed. "Go on, Sandstorm, go knock some sense into my idiot of an apprentice."

Sandstorm hesitated for a moment, then nodded and took off after her friends. Bluestar watched her go for a moment before padding into the camp, a strange feeling of contentment in her stomach. Finally, someone was going to get Fireheart to stop being so dense about his feelings.

She was going to have some fantastic blackmail material.

* * *

**Oh, Bluestar. Can't stop interfering with your son's life, can you? Well, I suppose someone had to eventually. I decided not to write any sort of confession scene because, well...I'm terrible at writing those. **

**By the way, I won't be showing it in the book, so I'll just say it here: this little training mission is when Graystripe falls into the river and meets Silverstream. **

**So as of now/the beginning of next chapter, Fireheart and Sandstorm are officially together, Graystripe will start sneaking off to meet his RiverClan girlfriend, and a whole bunch of other stuff is going to go down. **

**Thanks for reading! **

**-TheShadowedWarrior**


	8. Graystripe's Secret

It would be impossible to say whether the next half moon was good or bad.

On one hand, Fireheart and Sandstorm had gotten together at last. The pale ginger molly had confessed her feelings for Fireheart during a night walk after returning from their training session with Graystripe, Ravenflight, and all four of their apprentices (that is after Fireheart was able to inform Cinderpaw that there were no such things as purple pigeons). Cinderpaw seemed to pick up on hunting and battle techniques left and right, and she and her siblings had passed their first hunting assessment. Fireheart even managed to find time to play with Brindleface's litter on occasion and was quickly befriending her only daughter, Fernkit.

On the other hand, however, Graystripe had been disappearing more and more these days, leaving camp for hours on end and returning with either no prey or only one piece of prey. During their training session, he had fallen into the river and had to be fished out by Silverstream, a pretty RiverClan cat. Ever since then, the gray warrior had been noticeably distracted, even forgetting to take Brackenpaw out for several days on end. Fireheart, Sandstorm, and Ravenflight had to split their time between their own apprentices and taking care of Brackenpaw's training as well. The flame-pelted warrior suspected that, had it not been for the fact that he had caught a cold and been forced to stay in the camp for a few days, they wouldn't have seen any sign of Graystripe at all.

Unfortunately, when they tried to ask what was going on, he refused to tell them. To make matters worse, Tigerclaw seemed to suspect that something was amiss as well, and the last thing Fireheart needed was for the deputy to assume he and his friends were up to something. He had been growing noticeably colder and more hostile toward Fireheart ever since he'd been made deputy all those moons ago, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what he'd done wrong.

"Do you think we should follow Graystripe and see where he goes?" Sandstorm asked one afternoon, swiping her tongue over her jaws as she finished off a fat pigeon. "He's been disappearing for days now and he still won't tell us what's going on."

"What about our apprentices, though?" Fireheart asked. He privately agreed that they needed to find out where their friend was going all the time, but he wasn't about to neglect Cinderpaw's training. "We still need to train them, and besides, Graystripe can take care of himself. He hasn't gotten hurt yet, has he?"

"No," Ravenflight spoke up. "But at the same time, we should at least try to find out what's the matter with him. Tigerclaw's already getting suspicious, and anyway, what if there's something wrong and he needs our help?"

Fireheart hadn't thought about that before. He thought about anything that might be troubling his friend. Graystripe had been slightly more cheerful as more time had passed since the battle against RiverClan at the gorge, but perhaps he wasn't really as over it as he seemed to be. If it had been him, Fireheart wasn't sure if he'd be completely over it by now either.

"Alright," he agreed finally. "But what are we going to do about our apprentices? We can't just leave them all here. That would just get us into trouble, and I don't think the older warriors would be too happy if we asked them to watch our apprentices while we stalk Graystripe for the day."

"True," Sandstorm mused, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Maybe we could take them with us," Ravenflight suggested. "It would be a good way for them to practice their stealth and tracking. And if there's any danger, we can just send them back to camp to fetch reinforcements if necessary."

"That sounds like a good plan," Fireheart agreed, relieved. Ravenflight might have been the most reserved out of all of them, but there was no denying that he had some of the smartest ideas.

So after they finished their meals, they gathered up all four of the new apprentices and strolled out of the camp with them. Cinderpaw, as usual, was bouncing around excitedly while her siblings watched with a mixture of amusement and resignation on their faces. Once they were out of the camp, Fireheart turned to address the apprentices.

"Right," he meowed, then hesitated. How was he going to tell them what their plan was? Telling them that they needed to find out where Graystripe was sneaking off to was a no go, so how...? "Here's the plan for today. We're going to see how well you four know your stealth and tracking techniques. Graystripe is hiding somewhere in the forest waiting, and we want you to find out where he is. Whoever finds him first gets the first piece of fresh-kill from the pile when we get back. Brackenpaw, since there are only three warriors here right now, you and Cinderpaw will work as a team. I'll be watching the two of you; Thornpaw and Brightpaw, your mentors will watch your progress. Everyone got that?"

"Yes, Fireheart," all four apprentices chimed at once.

"Good," Fireheart meowed, nodding. "Off you go, then."

All four apprentices scampered away. Cinderpaw and Brackenpaw took off in the direction of Sunningrocks, Thornpaw went deeper into the forest, and Brightpaw turned towards Twolegplace. Nodding a quick goodbye to his friends, Fireheart padded after Cinderpaw and Brackenpaw, keeping enough distance between them so that he didn't interfere with their stalking but remaining just close enough that he could still see where they were going.

As they padded further into the territory, Fireheart's scent glands quickly picked up on Graystripe's trail. They were on the right path after all. Which also meant that by now, the other apprentices and mentors had probably doubled back and were following the scent trail now as well. For some unknown reason, Fireheart felt a pang of foreboding. He had a sinking feeling that something was about to go horribly, horribly wrong.

They reached Sunningrocks, where Graystripe's scent was stronger than ever. He was definitely nearby. Fireheart's sense of foreboding increased tenfold when he realized that his friend wasn't alone. There was another cat there, a RiverClan one, and a molly by the scent of things. It seemed vaguely familiar as well–aside from the fishy stench of RiverClan–but Fireheart couldn't seem to place which cat the scent belonged to. His muscles tensed. If there was a RiverClan cat on their territory, he needed to chase them off. He couldn't afford to let two apprentices be caught by an enemy warrior.

Just as Fireheart was prepared to spring forward, Brackenpaw came rushing toward him, Cinderpaw trailing just behind. The ginger tom's eyes were blazing with anger and hurt, and his fur was fluffed up so that he was almost twice his size. Cinderpaw followed her brother, for once not skipping around wildly as she usually did. Her blue eyes were filled with worry, and she seemed equally upset.

"Brackenpaw!" Fireheart exclaimed. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Graystripe!" Brackenpaw spat.

"What about Graystripe? What did he do?" Fireheart pressed, but it seemed that the younger tom was too upset to answer.

"Er, Fireheart...I think you should see this," Cinderpaw meowed quietly. The timid note in her voice startled Fireheart, and he followed her without question.

They padded to a spot a few fox-lengths away, where Fireheart immediately froze in horror at the sight of them. Graystripe was indeed there, and so was the RiverClan cat he had scented earlier. But they weren't fighting, indeed, there didn't seem to be any hostility between the pair at all. He watched as the RiverClan queen leaned her head forward, rubbing her muzzle against Graystripe's cheek affectionately.

His worst fears had been confirmed. Graystripe had been sneaking out of the camp to visit Silverstream.

* * *

"Graystripe!" Fireheart hissed, bounding down the rock face toward his friend. The two warriors broke apart, looking at him nervously. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Fireheart," Graystripe meowed awkwardly. "It's not what it looks like–"

"Really?" the flame-colored warrior snorted disbelievingly. "Then please tell me, what _are _you doing? Because to me, it looks like you're neglecting your apprentice so you can spend time with an enemy warrior."

Graystripe glared at him, a defensive look entering his eyes. "It's not any of your business."

"How is it not my business when I've had to help train _your _apprentice for almost half a moon?"

"I think I should go now," Silverstream muttered, turning and climbing into the river. "Bye, Graystripe."

"I'll see you again later, Silverstream," Graystripe called after her.

Fireheart couldn't believe what his friend was doing. Not only was he sneaking around behind everyone's backs with a RiverClan cat, but he didn't seem to understand or care about the fact that he was breaking the warrior code to pieces. In fact, he seemed more upset about getting caught than the effect his behavior was having on others, particularly his apprentice and his friends. Brackenpaw was staring at his mentor with a world of hurt, anger, and betrayal in his eyes that sent a pang through Fireheart.

"Graystripe," the ginger apprentice began quietly. "Is...is _this _why you haven't been training me lately? You've been sneaking around with that RiverClan queen?"

Graystripe didn't answer, which was more than enough of an answer for Brackenpaw. He backed up a few paces, stumbling slightly as he did so, then turned tail and fled back in the direction of the ThunderClan camp. Ravenflight and Sandstorm arrived with their apprentices just in time to see Brackenpaw rush past them, but the ginger apprentice didn't stop or even acknowledge his Clanmates.

"What's going on?" Ravenflight asked worriedly, turning his head to stare after Brackenpaw.

"Nothing," Graystripe meowed hastily. "Sorry, you guys. I just need to go talk to my apprentice–"

But Fireheart was at his wit's end with Graystripe now. Before the gray tabby had time to react, he slipped out in front of him, his hackles raised and a threatening growl emitting from his throat. Graystripe stared at him, a mixture of anger and disbelief in his yellow eyes.

"Don't even think about it," Fireheart hissed. "You've caused more than enough trouble."

Silently, he signaled for Ravenflight to go after Brackenpaw, which the black tom did at once with a quick nod to his friends. Brightpaw took off after her mentor, casting a worried glance behind her at Fireheart and Graystripe.

"Fireheart, let me go," Graystripe insisted. "I'm going to go speak to Brackenpaw about what happened."

"He _knows_ what happened. He saw everything," Fireheart reminded him coldly. "I'm warning you now, Graystripe, stay away from him. Haven't you already done enough?"

Sandstorm came to stand beside him, glaring at Graystripe with eyes like flint. She didn't know exactly what was happening, but she was smart enough to realize that Graystripe had done something to upset Brackenpaw and Fireheart. Cinderpaw was glowering at Graystripe as well, seemingly unaffected by the fact that he was twice her size.

Graystripe glared at them, but even he knew better than to take on three cats at once. His tail bristling, he whirled around and stalked off, presumably to go sulk somewhere in the forest. Fireheart let his fur lie flat, though his anger at Graystripe hadn't diminished.

"What's going on, Fireheart?" Sandstorm asked, gazing at him worriedly.

Fireheart hesitated for a moment, then meowed, "I'll explain in a little bit, Sandstorm. Right now, I want to find Brackenpaw and make sure he's okay."

Sandstorm nodded in understanding, and together she and Fireheart padded off in the direction Ravenflight, Brightpaw and Brackenpaw had disappeared. Cinderpaw and Thornpaw trailed after them, unusually subdued. It seemed that the mood of the older warriors was affecting them as well.

They found Ravenflight and Brightpaw comforting Brackenpaw in a clearing not far from the camp entrance. Fireheart walked over to him, followed closely by Sandstorm, Cinderpaw, and Thornpaw. The distraught apprentice looked up as they approached, a sad look in his amber eyes.

"I'm sorry, Brackenpaw," Fireheart apologized. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"It's okay, Fireheart. I know it's not your fault," Brackenpaw meowed quietly.

"Brackenpaw told us what happened," Ravenflight meowed, his green eyes anxious. "Fireheart, how are we supposed to tell Bluestar about this?"

"Tell Bluestar about what?" Sandstorm asked. "Fireheart, what's going on?"

"Er, well, you see," Fireheart began, searching for a way to explain what they had discovered at Sunningrocks. Finally, he deciding that being upfront was the best option. "Graystripe's been sneaking around with a RiverClan cat, Silverstream. Brackenpaw and Cinderpaw discovered him when they tracked his scent trail there."

"You're kidding," Sandstorm meowed in disbelief. Fireheart shook his head. "What is that idiot thinking? Is he mouse-brained? He's going to get himself caught _and _exiled! Forget that, he's going to get himself exiled and then killed by a RiverClan patrol. Has he completely forgotten about the warrior code?"

"Sure seemed like it," Fireheart snorted. "I tried to tell him that he needed to stop, but he didn't seem to care that he was doing anything wrong."

"Fireheart?" Brackenpaw began quietly. "What's going to happen to Graystripe now? Are you going to tell him what you found him doing today?"

Fireheart pondered the question for a moment. He that knew it would be the right decision, to tell the truth, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Despite his anger at Graystripe, he didn't want to see his first friend exiled. Besides, maybe now that he'd been caught, he would realize that he needed to stop seeing Silverstream. Fireheart was willing to give him a chance to change his behavior on his own before he started up any Clan drama.

"I think it would be best to give him a chance to fix his actions on his own first," he meowed finally. "If things haven't changed within the next quarter moon, then we'll go speak to Bluestar about what's going on."

"Who's going to train me until then, though?" Brackenpaw asked.

"We'll continue splitting your training between the three of us, of course," Sandstorm spoke up.

"Really?" the young tom asked, looking amazed. "You don't mind doing that?"

"Of course we don't," Ravenflight meowed encouragingly. "Graystripe made a promise to the whole Clan that he would train you in the ways of a warrior, and if he can't keep that promise, it's up to us to pick up the slack. The older warriors have their own issues to take care of. Besides, you don't want Longtail as your substitute mentor, do you?"

Brackenpaw chuckled a bit at that. "No, I suppose not," he agreed, his amber eyes brightening.

"And if Graystripe hasn't changed anything within the next quarter moon, we'll speak to Bluestar about getting you a more suitable mentor," Fireheart promised.

Brackenpaw nodded. "Thank you," he meowed quietly.

They padded back to the camp in silence. As they walked through the gorse tunnel, they found Graystripe on the other side, sitting by himself and eating two mice. Fireheart half-expected him to confront them, but he appeared to be ignoring them. He didn't even look up as Brackenpaw strolled past him on the way to the fresh-kill pile.

Fireheart let out a sigh. He hoped that Graystripe would learn to accept the consequences of his actions and improve his behavior accordingly, but somehow, that didn't look all that likely at the moment.

* * *

**Well, this is where the drama starts! Poor Brackenpaw. I decided that more of Fireheart's friends would be in on the secret this time because let's face it, he's going to need all the support he can get within the next moon or so. Graystripe, ya jerk...**

**The next chapter will be the Arrival of the Great Sickness (greencough), and then more drama. Specifically concerning Cinderpaw. I'm sure you all know what I'm hinting at, but spoiler alert, her overall fate will not be the same. **

**Also, I'll be on a bit of an updating frenzy for the next few days or so. **

**Thanks for reading! **

**-TheShadowedWarrior **


	9. Broken Promises

As it turned out, Fireheart's suspicions proved to be true. Graystripe continued sneaking out of the camp to visit Silverstream, neglecting Brackenpaw's training and leaving the young apprentice to the care of Fireheart, Sandstorm, and Ravenflight. The rest of the Clan was growing suspicious as well, and more than once Fireheart spotted some of the older warriors muttering amongst themselves and casting Graystripe hostile looks.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to hold to his promise of talking to Bluestar after a quarter moon. Right as the deadline passed, there was an outbreak of greencough in the camp and Bluestar was one of the cats affected by it. It was just fortunate that Yellowfang had the foresight to gather catmint before the outbreak. Fireheart felt guilty about breaking his promise to Brackenpaw, but he didn't want to add onto everyone else's troubles. He knew that Tigerclaw would want to know what was going on, but he felt that it was more appropriate to talk to Bluestar as well.

Right now, Fireheart was pacing back and forth across the camp nervously, his tail twitching. Sandstorm and Ravenflight had taken their apprentices and Brackenpaw out training, but Fireheart had ordered Cinderpaw to stay in camp. He knew she was disappointed, but it wouldn't have been fair of him to ask his friends to take his apprentice as well, especially since she could be a lot to handle. Being a new mentor was difficult enough without also having to deal with an extra apprentice anyway.

Suddenly, Dustpaw came bursting into the camp. "Tigerclaw has a message for Bluestar!" the brown tabby announced loudly. "He needs Bluestar to meet him by the Thunderpath. There's evidence of ShadowClan scent on our territory!"

"Bluestar can't go right now," Fireheart told him, biting back a remark about how he was fairly certain that every cat from the camp all the way to Highstones had heard Dustpaw's announcement. "She's ill. Someone else will have to meet Tigerclaw."

Dustpaw flicked his tail impatiently. "But Tigerclaw said she has to see the evidence for herself."

"Why?" Fireheart asked. "Shouldn't his word be enough for her?"

"There's no time for this," Dustpaw spat, glaring at Fireheart. "Bluestar needs to see the evidence _now_. I don't have time to deal with filthy kittypets!"

At that, Fireheart's temper finally boiled over. He was stressed out with worry about his former mentor and leader, and now he was having to put up with Dustpaw's jealousy and rudeness _again_. Even though he knew what he was doing was wrong, he couldn't help himself. He had to put Dustpaw in his place.

"Bluestar can't leave the camp," he growled in the most chilling, haunting voice he'd ever heard. What in StarClan's name was going on? It didn't sound anything like him. "There. Is that clear enough for a pathetic excuse for an apprentice like you to understand, or would you like me to dumb it down a little more?"

The brown tabby's eyes widened. Before he could say anything, however, Cinderpaw came bounding over to them.

"What's going on?" she asked, seemingly oblivious to the tension between the two toms. "Fireheart? Is everything okay? What happened?"

"Just a moment, Cinderpaw," Fireheart meowed to his apprentice. Turning his attention back to Dustpaw, he continued, "I told you, someone else will just have to tell Tigerclaw that Bluestar can't meet him. If you want to make yourself useful, go and do that."

"What do you mean, ShadowClan?" Cinderpaw asked as Dustpaw hissed, "Don't give me orders! You're not my mentor!"

"That may be, but I am a warrior and in case you've forgotten, we have authority over the apprentices," Fireheart growled. "Unless you want me to report your behavior to Bluestar when she gets better and delay your naming ceremony even further, I suggest you do as you're told and–oh for the love of StarClan, Cinderpaw, not now!"

Apparently deciding that the prospect of seeing ShadowClan warriors again was too exciting to miss, Cinderpaw tore out through the gorse tunnel and into the forest. Fireheart sped off after his apprentice, not bothering to check to see if Dustpaw had followed him or not. Most of the time, Fireheart was admiring of the speed at which Cinderpaw was able to propel herself through the forest in pursuit of prey. This was not one of those times.

"Cinderpaw, stop!" Fireheart shouted, but she wasn't paying attention. They were drawing closer to the Thunderpath now, and Fireheart could feel his heart racing in fear. If Cinderpaw didn't slow down, she could run headlong into a monster.

As he raced past the burnt ash tree, Fireheart nearly collided into Tigerclaw, who was padding calmly towards the Thunderpath. The deputy whirled around in surprise, his amber eyes widening.

"Fireheart!" he hissed. "What are you doing?"

"I can't talk now, Tigerclaw," Fireheart meowed impatiently, his tail lashing. "Cinderpaw heard Dustpaw's report about ShadowClan and decided to run off _again_. If I don't catch up to her now, she could be–"

Suddenly, a cry of pain interrupted the rest of his sentence. Fireheart's stomach sank in horror as he recognized the voice of his apprentice. Numb with shock, he padded towards the Thunderpath, barely aware of Tigerclaw walking along beside him. When he reached the edge of the rancid, foul-smelling path, he had to struggle not to faint at the sight that greeted him.

Cinderpaw was lying on the edge of the Thunderpath, a pool of blood forming around her. One of her legs was bent at an odd angle and the fur had been torn off it. She didn't even appear to be breathing.

Tigerclaw padded forward and sniffed at her small, broken body. "She's alive," he growled, and Fireheart felt a wave of relief. "Come. Help me get her back to the camp."

Fireheart just nodded, gently lifting Cinderpaw onto the deputy's back. He didn't know how he would explain what had happened to Frostfur, and he was just thankful that Tigerclaw was choosing to take care of Cinderpaw's needs instead of questioning him.

They entered the camp, where they immediately headed for Yellowfang's den. Out of the corner of his eye, Fireheart saw Brackenpaw's eyes widen at the sight of his sister and felt an even bigger pang of guilt. Brightpaw and Thornpaw were going to be devastated when they found out what happened to their littermate. If Cinderpaw survived her injury, what would happen to her next? Would she still be able to become a warrior?

He pushed his way through the fern tunnel that led into Yellowfang's den. Inside, the medicine cat was already tending to Cinderpaw, a grim look in her orange eyes. As he entered, Tigerclaw turned around pushed past him on his way out of the den. The great tabby glanced at Fireheart, but his eyes were expressionless as he turned away once more and kept walking.

"Will she be alright?" Fireheart asked quietly.

"I can't say for sure right now," Yellowfang told him gently. "But if her spirit is any indication, she should pull through just fine."

Fireheart sighed. "I should have been able to stop her. What sort of mentor can't get their own apprentice to listen to them?"

"It's not your fault," the old medicine cat insisted. "Fireheart, any of the warriors here would have trouble getting Cinderpaw to calm down. It's just the way she is. What happened today was unfortunate, but it has nothing to do with your capabilities as a mentor. Do you understand me?"

The flame-pelted warrior nodded. He wasn't sure if he agreed with what Yellowfang was saying, but he knew it would do no good to argue.

"Good," Yellowfang meowed. More softly, she added, "I'm afraid I have some more bad news. Bluestar lost another life while you were gone."

"She _what__?_" Fireheart exclaimed, then immediately lowered his voice. "Sorry."

But Yellowfang just nodded, the grim look returning to her eyes. "She was asking for you earlier, but you were out of the camp. The sickness has left her, but her den still reeks of greencough so I'd advise you not to go in there for a bit. Wait until she's recovered enough to leave."

Fireheart just nodded and padded out of the den, his paws feeling heavy as he headed over to the warriors' den. Not only had he let his apprentice nearly get killed by a monster, but he hadn't been there when Bluestar needed him. He was turning out to be the worst Clanmate any cat could ever ask for.

By now, almost everyone in the camp had heard about Cinderpaw's accident. Fireheart could feel their gazes on his back, but he ignored them as he pushed his way into the warriors' den. Sandstorm and Ravenflight were there, as was Graystripe. Fireheart's mate and Ravenflight blinked sympathetically at him as he entered, but to his shock, Graystripe's lip curled into a sneer.

"So who's a terrible mentor now?" the gray warrior taunted. "And here you were telling me off for seeing Silverstream and neglecting Brackenpaw. At least _my _apprentice is still in one piece."

"Shut up, Graystripe!" Sandstorm snarled, whirling on Graystripe as Fireheart flinched. "There's no need to be spiteful. What happened to Cinderpaw was an accident. Don't you think Fireheart feels bad enough without you behaving like a heap of fox dung?"

"What sort of friend are you?" Ravenflight added, glaring at the gray tabby.

"Whatever," Graystripe muttered. His eyes met Fireheart's, silently daring him to say something.

Fireheart knew that he should have just ignored his friend and gone to sleep. He was in no state to keep his temper for long, and he should be mature enough not to stoop to the level of petty insults. But he was upset, stressed out, and the last thing he needed was for Graystripe to taunt him and act as though he'd somehow been in the wrong when he reprimanded him for seeing Silverstream.

And for the second time that day, he snapped.

"You know, Graystripe," Fireheart meowed before he could stop himself. "At least I actually care about what happened to Cinderpaw. If Brackenpaw had been the one on the Thunderpath, you probably wouldn't even bother to make sure he was going to be okay. You'd just sneak off and act like a traitor, as usual. So don't give me that fox dung about being a terrible mentor, because not only are you the most pathetic excuse for a mentor to ever walk the forest, but you're a terrible friend, a traitor, and the greencough outbreak in our camp is just as disgusting as you."

Graystripe's jaw dropped. Fireheart curled up in his nest beside Sandstorm and felt her brush her muzzle against his cheek. He knew that what he'd said was wrong, but Graystripe's feelings were the least of his concerns right now.

Fireheart stayed awake long after everyone else had entered the den and fallen asleep. Even Sandstorm's soft, gentle breathing wasn't enough to soothe him. His mind kept flashing back to the moment he found Cinderpaw lying on the edge of the Thunderpath, her small body broken and bruised. He couldn't help feeling that he had disappointed so many cats: Bluestar, his mentor and whom he'd made a promise to that he would train Cinderpaw into a warrior of ThunderClan, Frostfur, who had personally requested that he mentor her daughter, and most importantly, Cinderpaw herself, the cat who had idolized him from when he was an apprentice. She had been overjoyed when Bluestar named him her mentor, and now it felt as though he had let her down.

Silently, he rose to his paws and padded out of the warriors' den and out of the camp. He wasn't sure where he was going, the forest seeming to pass by in a blur as he stumbled along blindly. Twice, Fireheart nearly tripped over a tree root, but he somehow managed to catch himself every single time.

By the time he was able to gain control of his senses, Fireheart realized that he was standing at the foot of Sunningrocks. He shook his head, confused. What on earth had possessed him to come here of all places? As he stared up at the mass of rocks before him, Fireheart's mind flashed back to his very first battle, when he'd refused to return to camp despite the fact that he'd never had any battle training.

_"Whatever I've got now will just have to make do." _

Then in the midst of the battle, when he was nearly killed by a RiverClan warrior.

_I can't give up! _

He remembered waking up in Yellowfang's den–well, Spottedleaf's then–and being lectured and comforted by Bluestar. He remembered the same process happening again not long after when Brokenstar had invaded their camp. He remembered going with his denmates, Whitestorm, Mousefur, and Darkstripe to rescue Cinderpaw and her siblings from ShadowClan despite the fact that his injuries weren't fully healed and he knew that Brokenstar's followers wouldn't hesitate to kill. He had nearly sacrificed his life so many times already, and all of them had been for the sake of a promise he'd made on his first day as an official member of ThunderClan: that he would protect and defend his Clan, even at the cost of his life.

Indeed, it seemed that his entire life was made up of promises. He had made the same vow during his warrior ceremony, and not even a moon later, he had promised to train Cinderpaw in the ways of a warrior. But how could he keep that promise now? Even if Cinderpaw did survive, it would be a miracle if she was still able to become a warrior. Besides, he'd already proven that he wasn't good enough to train her.

But then again...perhaps the young apprentice who had foolishly rushed into battle so many moons ago had a point.

He _had _made a promise, after all. Shouldn't that mean he needed to do everything in his power to keep it?

Maybe he would fail in the end. Maybe it would all prove to be too much for both of them. Maybe his best efforts wouldn't be enough no matter how hard he tried.

But for Cinderpaw's sake, he couldn't give up now. He had to at least try.

As the first rays of dawn emerged from over the horizon, Fireheart made another vow, this one to himself. No matter what it took, he was going to see to it that Cinderpaw didn't have to give up on her dream of becoming a full warrior of ThunderClan.

* * *

**Well, there's the drama, just like I promised! Fireheart's slightly less friendly side came out in this chapter a bit too...though you kind of have to feel bad for the guy. He's under a lot of stress. **

**I changed the confrontation between Fireheart and Graystripe since in this series, Fireheart never confronted Silverstream and tried to warn her off. Graystripe is still a douche, though. Seriously, your best friend is clearly weighed down by guilt and then you go and kick him while he's down. Screw you, dude. **

**(I say that even though I'm the one who wrote him this way, lol.) **

**I also decided to change the part where Fireheart goes to sit with Bluestar while she's sick. Don't get me wrong, I love that part in the actual book, but I thought it would work better if he wasn't able to see her. Kind of helps with the emotional aspect of this chapter and how Fireheart is just completely defeated and kicking himself for failing his Clanmates. I did at least try to end on a positive note, though. **

**Thanks for reading! **

**-TheShadowedWarrior**


	10. Forging A New Path

Fireheart managed to catch a fair amount of prey before returning back to camp later that morning, in a much better mood than when he'd left. When he returned, he bumped into Sandstorm as she was leaving with Thornpaw, presumably off for a training session. Ravenflight and Thornpaw were right behind her.

"Hey, Fireheart," Sandstorm greeted him, her green eyes sympathetic. "Are you doing alright?"

"Definitely," Fireheart replied cheerfully.

Sandstorm looked startled. "Where did all this cheeriness come from all of a sudden?"

Fireheart flicked his tail. "Well, I figured I wouldn't do much good moping around. We've got too many things to take care of around here. Speaking of which, did you-know-who take out his apprentice, or has he snuck out of the camp again?"

"Guess," was all she said. Fireheart understood immediately.

"Of course, what else did I expect?" he snorted. Privately, he wondered why he hadn't run into Graystripe on his way home from Sunningrocks. Perhaps the gray warrior had simply taken a different route? "Well, if you don't mind waiting for me, I can get Brackenpaw and meet up with you four."

"Sounds good," Ravenflight agreed. "We're practicing battle moves today, so we'll be waiting for you at the sandy hollow when you're ready."

Fireheart nodded and padded into the camp. As he entered, he was surprised to find Bluestar out of her den, having thought that she would still be too weak to leave. He was worried that she would be upset with him for not being available when she asked for him, but her eyes betrayed nothing but their usual warmth when she saw him. There was some sympathy there as well, and he guessed that she had heard what happened to Cinderpaw.

Now that the initial grief over Cinderpaw's accident had passed, Fireheart had been able to look more critically at the situation. It seemed strange that Tigerclaw would have needed Bluestar to meet him in such a dangerous spot. Not to mention why he would even need her to come in the first place. Why would she need to see evidence of ShadowClan hunting on their territory instead of just taking her deputy at his word? For that matter, Fireheart wasn't even sure if he remembered finding any hint of ShadowClan trespassers, although he had been distracted at the time, so it was possible that he had simply missed it.

But there wasn't time to worry about that now. Brushing off his thoughts, the flame-pelted warrior padded over to Bluestar and dipped his head in greeting. "Good morning."

"Hello, Fireheart," Bluestar meowed. Her eyes were friendly and she seemed genuinely happy to see him, which sent another pang of guilt through Fireheart.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come yesterday," he apologized, but she waved her tail dismissively.

"It's alright. It sounds as though you had a lot going on yesterday anyway," she meowed, glancing toward the medicine clearing. "I'm sorry about Cinderpaw, Fireheart. She would have made a brilliant warrior."

"What do you mean, would have?" Fireheart retorted. "Who's to say she still can't be one? Once she gets better and once she's recovered some of her strength, I'm going to continue training her."

Bluestar looked at him gently. "Fireheart," she began quietly. "I spoke to Yellowfang earlier and she said that most of her injuries will heal eventually, but her back left leg is going to be permanently crippled. Do you know how difficult it's going to be to train her with an injury like that? She would have to learn everything from scratch, and that's not even counting for the time it would take for her to adjust to basic things like walking and cleaning herself again, nor the time it's going to take for her to recover from her other injuries. Even if she did manage to become a full warrior, training her is going to take much longer than normal. Chances are, she still wouldn't be finished with her training even after Brindleface's kits become apprentices. They might even be warriors before her."

Fireheart knew that what his leader was saying was true, but at the same time, he knew he couldn't allow it to prevent him from keeping his promise. It had been partially his fault that Cinderpaw had run onto the Thunderpath in the first place–he hadn't done enough to curb her reckless enthusiasm a little. The least he could do was give her a chance to overcome her new disability and become a warrior as she'd always dreamed.

"I know," he admitted finally. "I know it's going to be difficult. And who knows, maybe it will be too much and she won't become a warrior in the end. But I'd feel worse if I didn't try at all. I promised I'd turn her into a warrior, and if that means I have one more obstacle to work around...then so be it. Anyway, if WindClan can have a lame warrior as their deputy, there's no reason Cinderpaw can't become a warrior."

Bluestar gazed at him for a moment, then nodded. "I can see there won't be any changing your mind," she meowed. "Very well, Fireheart. Once Cinderpaw recovers, you may continue training her as a warrior."

"Thanks, Bluestar!" Fireheart meowed happily. He turned to go find Brackenpaw, tossing a, "See you later," over his shoulder.

Brackenpaw was lounging outside the apprentices' den when Fireheart approached him. Fireheart had to suppress a burst of anger when he saw the bored look on the apprentice's face. Graystripe had some nerve, calling him a bad mentor when he clearly didn't care about his own apprentice. He would have talked to Bluestar about getting Brackenpaw a new mentor, but he thought it would be more advisable to wait until she had recovered a little more from her sickness.

"Brackenpaw," he called out. "Are you up for some battle training? We're meeting Sandstorm and Ravenflight at the sandy hollow."

Brackenpaw leaped to his paws, his expression immediately lighting up. "Sure, Fireheart. Let's go."

Sandstorm and Ravenflight were already in the midst of a practice battle with their apprentices when Fireheart and Brackenpaw arrived. They paused when they noticed them, however, and Brackenpaw bounded over to join his siblings.

"Sorry it took so long," Fireheart apologized. "I had to talk to Bluestar about Cinderpaw."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Sandstorm meowed, waving him off with a flick of her tail. "There's still plenty of time left before we have to go back. Brackenpaw can join in on this next round."

"Yeah, come on, Brackenpaw," Brightpaw meowed, her eyes full of mischief. "I bet I can take you in a fight."

Brackenpaw purred. "We'll see about that," he retorted playfully.

It was nearly sunset by the time they finished training. All three apprentices were exhausted, but their eyes were shining and their good mood was shared by the warriors. They were turning into excellent fighters. Just as Fireheart was thinking that nothing could spoil their contentment, Graystripe seemed to appear out of nowhere, carrying a scrawny blackbird that looked as though it was barely more than a pile of feathers. When he saw Brackenpaw with Fireheart, he dropped his prey and marched over to them.

"What are you doing with _my _apprentice?" he asked aggressively. "Just because you lost yours doesn't give you the right to steal Brackenpaw."

But Fireheart wasn't in the mood to speak to the gray warrior. Turning to Sandstorm, he meowed, "Did you hear someone talking just now?"

Graystripe made an angry noise, but Sandstorm simply replied, "Nope, I didn't hear anything. Did you, Ravenflight?"

"No," Ravenflight meowed. "I don't think I did."

"I suppose it was the wind, then," Fireheart meowed. "Whatever, let's just keep going. I'd rather get back to camp before the fat traitor eats all of the fresh-kill."

His companions all laughed, and together they marched past Graystripe on their way back to the camp, not even sparing him a second glance. Just before they rounded a corner that led to the gorse tunnel, Fireheart glanced behind him and saw that Graystripe was padding in the opposite direction, presumably towards Sunningrocks. He tried to care but found he didn't.

_If he wants to be a traitor, let him, _Fireheart thought defiantly. _Who cares _he _does? _

Perhaps his behavior had been a little immature, but Fireheart felt that he wasn't entirely in the wrong. Besides, Graystripe owed him an apology for taunting him about Cinderpaw's accident, and that wasn't even to mention the way he was treating Brackenpaw, as though he were something that could be owned. Fireheart was almost amazed that Graystripe had the audacity to complain about his apprentice being "stolen" when he took no interest in training him at all.

But regardless, he had more important things to take care of now. Bluestar was still recovering from her illness and was on her ninth life, and once Cinderpaw recovered, he would have to take care of training her and helping her adjust to her disability. Soon, his friendship with Graystripe would be nothing more than a distant memory.


	11. Punishment

Cinderpaw finally woke up three days after her accident on the Thunderpath. She was a bit groggy and in more than a considerable amount of pain, but she was awake and for the first time since he and Sandstorm had become mates, Fireheart had something to be genuinely happy about. Frostfur was there when her daughter woke up as well and promptly smothered her with licks.

"Mother," Cinderpaw groaned. "I kind of need to breathe here."

"Are you feeling alright, Cinderpaw?" Frostfur asked, still fussing over her daughter. "Do you need me to get you anything? Fresh-kill? A hunting patrol just got back with some rabbit–your favorite."

"Not now, Frostfur," Yellowfang meowed, stepping out from around a corner with several herbs clamped underneath her chin. "Let me tend to Cinderpaw's leg first. Then you can bring her something to eat."

Frostfur nodded and sat down beside Fireheart, watching as Yellowfang set to work chewing up poultices and sticking them on Cinderpaw's leg. She gave the young apprentice a few poppy seeds to chew as well, and Fireheart was relieved to see the pain in Cinderpaw's eyes lessen slightly. It wasn't enough of a dose to make her fall asleep again, but it was enough to soothe her agony.

"There you go," Yellowfang meowed, at last, stepping back from her patient. "You'll need me to keep dressing your wound for a few days, and then we can work on some exercises to strengthen your leg. But–and I'm going to be blunt with you here–I'm afraid it's never going to be quite the same again."

Cinderpaw cocked her head to the side. "But...what does that mean?" she asked quietly. "If my leg isn't going to heal completely...does that mean I can't be a warrior now?"

She looked devastated at the thought. Fireheart silently thanked StarClan that Bluestar had agreed to let him continue training Cinderpaw. At least he would have some good news to deliver to her today.

"Normally I would say yes," Yellowfang answered with a glance at Fireheart. She had been informed of his plans to continue Cinderpaw's training, and although she was skeptical of his chances of success, she knew better than to try to talk him out of it. "But Fireheart here is determined to make you into a warrior. Something about he promised to train you, so he's going to keep that promise even if it takes the two of you nine lifetimes to turn you into a full warrior of ThunderClan."

"Really?" Cinderpaw asked, her eyes lighting up with excitement. She turned to face her mentor. "You mean it? You're really going to keep training me?"

"Well, of course," Fireheart replied, and she let out a purr of delight. "A promise is a promise, after all. You didn't think I was going to let a little setback stop me from keeping it, did you?"

"Thank you, Fireheart!" Cinderpaw burst out happily.

"Don't thank me yet. You'll be in training longer than your littermates," Fireheart warned her. "They'll probably receive their warrior names moons before you're ready, and you might not receive yours until after Brindleface's kits receive theirs."

Cinderpaw nodded. "I understand," she meowed. "But that's okay with me as long as I get to be a warrior someday."

Frostfur was looking at Fireheart with an expression of deep gratitude in her eyes. "Thank you," she murmured. "I knew I made the right decision when I asked Bluestar to let you mentor her."

Fireheart nodded, simply glad that he still had Frostfur's support. He wouldn't have blamed her if she wanted nothing to do with him after he had been unable to stop Cinderpaw from getting hurt. Her anger would have been more than justified, and he was thankful that she didn't seem to hold any ill will towards him and even more pleased that Cinderpaw's independence and spirit hadn't been dampened.

_Someday, you'll be able to run through the forest again, _he thought, watching as Cinderpaw chatted happily with her mother. _You just might. _

* * *

Now that Cinderpaw was awake, Fireheart had another issue to take care of. He hadn't forgotten his promise to Brackenpaw that he would find him a new mentor, although he hadn't been able to keep to his deadline of speaking to Bluestar after a quarter moon. She still wasn't fully recovered from her bout of greencough, but Fireheart knew that he needed to take action now. Despite the combined efforts of himself, Sandstorm, and Ravenflight, Brackenpaw was beginning to fall behind in his training and Graystripe wasn't taking any notice at all. In fact, the gray warrior hardly ever seemed to be in camp these days.

_But how much should I tell her? _Fireheart wondered. He knew that he should tell Bluestar about Graystripe's relationship with Silverstream, but he felt that outing one of her warriors as a traitor on top of everything else would be a little too much at the moment. Of course, he could have told Tigerclaw, but something stopped Fireheart from doing so. Ever since Cinderpaw's accident, he hadn't been fully comfortable around the deputy, although he couldn't figure out why. It wasn't as though he'd done anything wrong, at least not that Fireheart could tell.

Eventually, he decided that he would voice his concerns about Graystripe's lack of involvement in his apprentice's life, but keep the truth about his illicit relationship a secret until it became a bit more relevant. Carefully planning what he was going to say in his mind, Fireheart padded over to Bluestar, who was chewing almost absentmindedly on a thin squirrel. To his dismay, Tigerclaw was sitting with her, but Fireheart forced himself to brush that little detail aside for now. He supposed it didn't matter either way since Tigerclaw would inevitably find out the truth somehow.

"Yes, Fireheart? Is there something I can do for you?" Bluestar asked when she saw him approach.

Fireheart dipped his head to her. "Bluestar, I need to speak to you about something," he meowed. "It's...about Graystripe."

"What's happened?" his former mentor asked. "I did notice that he doesn't share meals with you, Sandstorm, and Ravenflight anymore. Does this have anything to do with that?"

"Well, yes and no," Fireheart answered. "The reason he's not speaking to us has a lot to do with this, but I didn't come here to talk about our friendship problems."

"Go on, then," Tigerclaw growled.

"It's about Brackenpaw," the ginger warrior continued, ignoring the deputy's tone. "Graystripe...well, I suppose there's no point in hiding it; Graystripe hasn't been training him."

"At all?" Bluestar inquired.

"At all," Fireheart confirmed. "Or at least not since he fell into the river nearly a moon ago. Sandstorm, Ravenflight, and I have been taking him out instead, but they have their own apprentices to deal with and Brackenpaw's training has started to fall behind. I was able to give him a little more attention while Cinderpaw was still recovering, but once I resume her training, I don't think I'll have time to train both her and Brackenpaw."

Bluestar nodded thoughtfully. "I did notice that Graystripe was spending more time outside the camp than usual, but I didn't think he hadn't been training Brackenpaw at all." She looked troubled, and for a moment, Fireheart regretted bringing up his worries. "And you said this has been going on for nearly a moon?"

"Just about," the flame-colored tom answered. "I would have said something earlier, but then there was that greencough outbreak...and then Cinderpaw's accident, and I just couldn't find the right time."

"I see," Bluestar meowed, nodding. "Thank you for bringing this up to me, Fireheart. Let me speak to Tigerclaw about finding Brackenpaw a new mentor. Say nothing of this to Graystripe–I don't want there to be more trouble than necessary."

"Very well, Bluestar," Fireheart meowed, dipping his head to her respectfully.

He walked over to Sandstorm, who was waiting for him with two mice in front of her. Her green eyes brightened when she saw him coming, and she licked his cheek as he sat down beside her.

"What were you talking to Bluestar about?" Sandstorm asked curiously.

"Long story," Fireheart answered, taking a bite of his mouse. Technically Bluestar had only ordered him not to tell Graystripe of her plans to strip him of his apprentice, but he didn't want to risk anyone overhearing him. Gossip always seemed to spread around the Clan like wildfire. "But you'll find out soon, I'm sure."

Out of the corner of his eye, Fireheart spotted Graystripe padding back into the camp with his jaws completely empty and free of any sign of fresh-kill. The gray tom padded past them, determinedly not looking at either of them, and Fireheart felt his lip curl. Graystripe was in for a nasty shock, he thought with a twinge of savage pleasure when he found out that he was losing his apprentice.

Fireheart and Sandstorm watched as Tigerclaw walked up to Graystripe, a look of disapproval in his amber eyes. "Did you find _nothing _in the forest to bring back to the fresh-kill pile?" he demanded.

"It's leaf-bare," Graystripe protested, which was about the most pathetic defense Fireheart had ever heard anyone use. Evidently, Tigerclaw thought so as well, for he simply snorted. "I looked, alright, but I couldn't find anything."

"Brackenpaw, Brightpaw, and Thornpaw all managed to catch three pieces of prey each today," Tigerclaw growled. "And Swiftpaw and Dustpaw managed four, and they're just apprentices. I expect more of my warriors, Graystripe. Hurry up and take a piece of prey to Yellowfang–Bluestar's going to call a Clan meeting soon. And don't even think about taking anything for yourself until I see that you're taking your warrior duties seriously again."

But Graystripe didn't move. "What about Fireheart?" he demanded. "He hasn't even left camp today, and _he _still gets to eat."

"Fireheart has done more for this Clan in two days than you've done in almost a moon," Tigerclaw hissed. "I suggest you do as you're told, Graystripe, because, with the way you're going, I'm tempted to refuse to allow you to eat for a quarter moon."

Fireheart thought that was going a little too far. While Graystripe hadn't been contributing to the Clan, starving him for a quarter moon seemed a bit cruel and unusual. Fortunately, he didn't have to find out whether Tigerclaw would actually go through with his threat, for Graystripe spun around angrily and stormed off toward the fresh-kill pile.

"Thanks for nothing!" he spat as he passed by Fireheart.

"What, don't blame me because you finally got in trouble with Tigerclaw," Fireheart scoffed. "Keep walking, Graystripe. Wouldn't want you to have to starve, now would we?"

Graystripe snarled at him but turned away and continued towards the fresh-kill pile. Fireheart exchanged a glance with Sandstorm and saw her rolling her eyes at their former friend's antics. There was already trouble brewing between them, and Graystripe hadn't even found out about what was going to happen later.

As it turned out, he wouldn't have to wait long. Barely a heartbeat later, Bluestar strode out from her den and leaped on top of the Highrock. She gave the customary call to gather, and the Clan slowly made their way to sit beneath the Highrock as their leader waited to address them.

"Cats of ThunderClan, as you know, four of our kits became apprentices a little more than a moon ago," Bluestar began. "However, through no fault of his own, one of them has begun to fall behind in his training. For this reason, I have decided that he will be given to a new mentor. Brackenpaw, step forward, please."

Looking nervous, Brackenpaw walked forward until he was right at the base of the Highrock. Graystripe was watching from the edge of the crowd, his yellow eyes burning with rage, and Fireheart hoped that he wouldn't take his anger out on his soon-to-be former apprentice. It was hardly his fault anyway.

"Brackenpaw, from this moment on, your new mentor will be Runningwind," she continued. "Runningwind, you were my apprentice and I know you will pass on all you know to this young cat so that he may become a full warrior of ThunderClan one day."

Runningwind looked pleased as he padded over to touch noses with his new apprentice. As the Clan began cheering the new mentor and apprentice pairing, Fireheart caught a glimpse of the delighted expression in Brackenpaw's eyes. For a moment, their eyes met, and the younger tom mouthed a "Thank you," to him.

"Wait a moment!"

The Clan stopped cheering as Graystripe stormed toward the center of the clearing. He was looking, not at Bluestar or Runningwind, but at Fireheart, and the expression in his eyes was one of pure rage, hatred, and self-righteous indignation.

"You told, didn't you?" he snarled accusingly, his yellow eyes flashing. "You told Bluestar that I wasn't training Brackenpaw."

"So what if I did?" Fireheart asked coolly. "Are you going to deny it's the truth?"

"It wasn't any of your business," Graystripe fired back. "Can't you just take care of your own problems before you start meddling with mine?"

"Leave him alone, Graystripe!" Sandstorm spat, standing up beside her mate. "It's not Fireheart's fault that you lost your apprentice. Maybe if you'd actually taken your duties as a mentor seriously, this wouldn't have happened."

"And it actually _is _his business, seeing as he was helping train Brackenpaw while you were busy lounging around and not doing anything to help your Clan," Ravenflight added.

"Sandstorm and Ravenflight are right," Tigerclaw growled, padding over to them. "And this is behavior I expect from a kit, but not a fully grown warrior, and especially not one that was trained by a former deputy of this Clan. Go to your nest now, Graystripe, and you can consider yourself confined to the camp for half a moon."

Now, Graystripe wasn't the most intelligent cat in the forest, but he usually managed to get by. At the moment, however, he was displaying several signs of stupidity. The most important being: when Tigerclaw gave an order, you did as you were told without question–especially when he was angry. Graystripe wasn't following his orders. Instead, for the second time that day, he ignored Tigerclaw completely and focused his attention on Fireheart. However, this time, he didn't continue blaming Fireheart for the loss of his apprentice. In fact, he didn't say anything at all.

Fireheart barely had time to react as his former friend launched himself at him, his claws unsheathed. He ducked as Graystripe's claws flashed across his face, barely missing him by inches. Searing pain shot through him as Graystripe bit down on his shoulder, and he used his strength to fling the gray warrior halfway across the clearing. He got to his feet, his fur bristling until Bluestar came in between them.

"Enough!" she growled, her eyes flashing as she glared at Graystripe. "I've watched your behavior, Graystripe, and I've had quite enough of it! This type of behavior is unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable! I don't care what Fireheart may have done to provoke you; we do _not _attack our Clanmates. You will clean the elders' den for a moon, and you can forget about ever mentoring another apprentice until I see that your attitude has improved. And if I catch you sneaking out of camp one more time, I'll strip you of your warrior name as well."

Graystripe clambered back to his feet, scowling, but even he knew better than to argue with Bluestar. Without looking at any of his Clanmates, he spun around and stormed off in the direction of the warriors' den. Bluestar watched him as he disappeared from sight, presumably heading for his nest, before turning to Fireheart.

"Are you alright?" she asked worriedly, looking him up and down.

"I'm fine," Fireheart reassured her.

"You might want to see Yellowfang for that bite," Bluestar noted, glancing at his shoulder.

Fireheart nodded, then asked, "Are you really going to strip Graystripe of his warrior name?"

Bluestar sighed. "I hope I don't have to, Fireheart, but if he continues with this behavior, I won't have a choice. Having a warrior name is an honor, and Graystripe hasn't shown that he deserves his. After today, he's lucky that he still gets to keep it for now. It wouldn't be a permanent stripping, however–just until he learns to keep to his oath of serving his Clan."

Fireheart agreed with what his former mentor was saying, but he couldn't help feeling a twinge of regret. Graystripe had once spoken of becoming a ThunderClan warrior with such pride and reverence. Where had that loyalty and dedication gone? Had meeting Silverstream truly changed Graystripe so drastically, or had Fireheart simply been blinded to his faults until now?

The more time passed, Fireheart noted as he turned to head to Yellowfang's den, the more he began to question whether Graystripe had ever truly been his friend at all.

* * *

**I'm not going to lie, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Sorry it took a few days to upload; I've been busy with trying to find a job. Kind of hard when you don't have any real previous work experience...yeah, I'm lazy. **

**Graystripe's in trouble now...BIG trouble. We'll see if his attitude improves at all now that he's lost his apprentice and is in danger of losing his warrior name. **

**Thanks for reading! **

**-TheShadowedWarrior **


	12. Tensions and Longing

**For the sake of the story, I've decided to skip over the second Gathering since it doesn't really go any differently than in canon. **

**As for the readers asking about Cloudkit, he will be in the story, but his origins will be different. He'll still be Fireheart's kin, but Princess isn't his mother...and that's all I'll say for now. **

* * *

To say things were tense in the Clan over the next quarter moon would be the understatement of a lifetime.

Graystripe couldn't even be allowed to sit near his denmates during mealtimes since he was always snarling or growling under his breath at Fireheart and Runningwind. Bluestar ordered that he be kept isolated, away from the rest of the Clan and with one of the senior warriors keeping an eye on him at all times. Perhaps it was a bit of an overreaction, but after witnessing Graystripe attack Fireheart in the middle of the camp, she didn't want to take any chances. If he was willing to attack a Clanmate in front of her, there was no telling what he would do if she had her back turned.

Fireheart didn't seem to mind the loss of one of his first friendships. On the contrary, he seemed eager to forget it had ever happened. He busied himself with helping Cinderpaw with her physical therapy, hunting and patrolling with Sandstorm, and assisting the other mentors with their training whenever he had the time. It was rare that he even bothered to acknowledge Graystripe these days, and when he did, it was usually nothing more than a passing sneer in retaliation to a remark his former friend had made.

Stretching her paws out in front of her, Bluestar lay down amongst the snow-covered grass and watched her son sharing tongues with Sandstorm. Her eyes traveled over the pair, then paused on the pale ginger molly. She frowned. Was it just her imagination, or had Sandstorm's belly swollen slightly?

As Bluestar watched, she saw Sandstorm meow something to Fireheart, who purred and licked her cheek. Although she was pleased to see that her kit had finally found someone who made him happy, Bluestar couldn't suppress a prickle of mingled resentment and longing as she watched Fireheart and Sandstorm together. She knew it was unfair, but she couldn't help it; she wanted desperately to be able to share the same closeness with him. She wanted him to be able to talk to her about his problems, no matter how trivial they might be, instead of only coming to her for guidance in case of emergencies. To put it short, she wanted to be his mother, but right now, she was nothing more than an overprotective mentor and Clan leader to him. Bluestar could have wailed her anguish aloud.

"Something on your mind, Bluestar?" Whitestorm asked, padding over to her with a squirrel in his jaws.

"Just Fireheart," Bluestar replied, not taking her eyes off her son.

"What about him?" her nephew asked, taking a seat beside her.

The ThunderClan leader didn't answer at first. Instead, she continued to watch her son as he rose to his paws, followed more slowly by Sandstorm. Now that she was standing, Bluestar could see that she was right. Sandstorm's belly _had _swollen. It didn't take much to guess why; after all, it was unlikely that the younger queen was growing fat on prey, seeing as it was leaf-bare. Bluestar let out a sigh. Here was more proof that Fireheart was growing up. In a few moons, he would have a family of his own and he would be even more distant from her than he was now.

"I miss him," she meowed, almost absentmindedly.

"Why?" Whitestorm asked, looking bemused. "He lives right in our camp and you two have a good relationship from what I've seen."

"I know," Bluestar agreed, sighing. "But it's not the same. I want to be more than just his former mentor to him. He's grown up now and I know he isn't going to be playing moss ball or demanding that I tell him a bedtime story anymore. But he's still my kit, and I wish we could have a connection that reflects that instead of being another typical mentor and apprentice relationship."

"Why not just tell Fireheart the truth, then?" the white-furred tom suggested.

_Do you think I haven't thought of that? _Bluestar wanted to say, but she kept her thoughts to herself. In truth, she knew that Whitestorm brought up a fair point, but she could never seem to work up the courage to tell Fireheart the truth about who she was to him. For one, how would she even begin to confess to something like that?

"Fireheart, I'm your mother." Too blunt.

"Fireheart, there's something I need to tell you. I know you've believed your entire life that you were born a kittypet, but that's actually a lie. I'm actually your real mother." That was even worse than the first.

"Fireheart, come to my den. I have a story I want to tell you. Are you settled? Okay, here goes: many seasons ago, there was a Clan leader who gave birth to a tiny ginger kit..." Too long-winded. At this point, it looked as though the best way to tell him would be through some sort of interpretive battle routine.

For another, there was just too much going on for her to trouble him with the truth. He was already dealing with the loss of his friendship, helping Cinderpaw, his regular warrior duties, and soon, he would be adding kits of his own into the mixture. Best not to add to his worries, Bluestar decided, by revealing that everything he'd believed about himself for nearly his entire life had been a lie.

"It's not the right time yet," she meowed finally. "He has enough to deal with at the moment anyway."

"I suppose that's true," Whitestorm agreed. He added more seriously, "But you can't keep putting it off forever. With all the trouble Fireheart gets into, you might end up losing your chance before you know it. After everything that happened to him when he was an apprentice, it's a miracle that you still have it now."

Bluestar winced. "You don't need to remind me," she half-growled. She could still remember the terror of watching her son in the medicine den, unconscious, and not knowing if he would recover. Losing Lionheart and Redtail had already been enough of a blow, and nearly losing Fireheart as well was too much to handle. It had taken all her willpower not to confine him to the camp for good after he woke up.

Did he know how much he meant to her? He had to; after all, it wasn't as though she'd made a secret out of it. Yet somehow, it never occurred to him to wonder why she cared as much as she did. Not that she would have suspected anything out of the ordinary in his position either, she supposed.

Meowing a quick farewell to Whitestorm, Bluestar rose to her paws and turned off in the direction of her den. It wasn't even sunset yet, but the blue-gray molly didn't feel up to sharing tongues or patrolling with her Clanmates anymore. Curling up in her nest, she tried to ignore the painful yearning that was clawing painfully at her insides. She was only marginally successful.

How much longer would it be, Bluestar wondered, until the time came when she could finally tell Fireheart everything?


	13. Back to the Grind

"Come on, Fireheart, let's go! We need to leave sometime before sunset, you know!" Cinderpaw meowed, bouncing up and down as much as her injured leg would allow.

"I'm coming, Cinderpaw. The forest isn't going anywhere," Fireheart replied, swallowing the last of his vole before rising to his paws and padding off after his apprentice.

Cinderpaw stopped in her bouncing. "I know," she acknowledged. "But this is the first time I've been out of camp in _forever_. _Please, _can we just get going?"

Fireheart gave a purr of amusement. "Very well," he conceded. "But don't go running off. Remember, this is just supposed to be an easy day to help strengthen your leg and get you back in shape a little."

The young apprentice nodded impatiently before half-limping, half-skipping through the gorse tunnel that led out of the camp. Fireheart followed her more slowly, nodding briefly to Runningwind as he passed by him with a hunting patrol following close behind. Runningwind returned the gesture before continuing into the camp to deposit the patrol's findings–two mice, a squirrel, and a vole–into the fresh-kill pile.

"Where are we going first?" Cinderpaw asked eagerly, her blue eyes shining. She looked as excited as the first day she'd toured the territory.

Fireheart thought for a moment. Snakerocks was obviously out of the question since if an adder attacked Cinderpaw while he wasn't looking, she wouldn't be able to get away in time. Sunningrocks would be safer, but the last thing he needed was to run into a RiverClan trespasser; namely Silverstream, probably wondering why Graystripe wasn't coming to see her anymore. Of course, his camp confinement was ending soon, so she wouldn't have long to wait.

"Fourtrees," he decided finally. That was a safe option. The terrain was relatively easy to walk, so he wouldn't have to worry about Cinderpaw tripping and injuring herself further. "And remember, if your leg starts bothering you, let me know immediately and we'll turn around and go back. I'm not a medicine cat so I can't really judge these things, but I don't want to risk aggravating your injury on the first day."

"Okay," Cinderpaw agreed, taking off in the direction of Fourtrees.

Throughout their walk, Cinderpaw–with Fireheart's encouragement–attempted to put pressure on her injured leg with varying results. The exercises Yellowfang had given her had done quite a bit of good, but that leg was still noticeably weaker than the other three. Nevertheless, Fireheart was impressed by her progress. He hadn't been expecting her to be able to walk on it at all yet, but she was doing her best.

"When do you think I'll be allowed to hunt and fight again?" the gray molly asked unexpectedly, turning to her mentor.

"Later," Fireheart replied. "We need to get you adjusted to the basics first. Get used to walking with three good legs, and then we'll deal with hunting and fighting techniques."

"How long do you think that will take?" Cinderpaw asked.

"I can't say for sure," Fireheart admitted. "Yellowfang will be better at judging that than me. But as long as you keep up with your exercises and don't overwork yourself, I expect you should be ready before you know it."

It was nearly sunset when Fireheart noticed that Cinderpaw was starting to limp much more slowly than before and decided to call it a day. For once, she didn't complain and the two cats walked back to the camp together. Despite the pain she must have been feeling, the young molly's eyes were gleaming with pride. Fireheart couldn't help sharing the same feeling. On her first day out of camp, she had managed to walk all the way to Fourtrees.

When they arrived back home, Cinderpaw bade him farewell before limping away to the medicine den to begin her exercises for the evening. Fireheart turned to join Sandstorm and Ravenflight, passing by Longtail as he walked over to his mate and best friend. The pale tabby gave him his customary sneer, which Fireheart ignored at first until he heard Longtail mutter something under his breath.

"Pardon me?" Fireheart asked, pausing and narrowing his eyes at his rival.

"I said, I don't know why you're bothering," Longtail clarified, the same ugly sneer still twisting his features.

"Explain," Fireheart meowed, his voice calm but with a dangerous undertone as though readying himself for a fight.

"I'm talking about Cinderpaw," the pale tabby meowed. "I don't know why you're bothering to train her. A crippled cat can't ever become a real warrior. She'll do nothing but hold everyone back."

"Well, we'll just see about that, won't we?" Fireheart retorted, struggling to keep the fury he could feel bubbling up inside him from overflowing. "_I _think she can do it and she's determined to try, so who are you to say she can't become a warrior? And Longtail, you of all cats are living proof that just because a cat has use of all four legs doesn't mean that they're going to be a _real warrior_, as you yourself put it."

Leaving Longtail staring after him with a stunned expression on his face, Fireheart brushed past him and continued on toward his friends. Sandstorm purred and licked his ears as he sat down next to her. The ginger tom felt a prickle of warmth as he took in the sight of his mate, her belly swollen with her kits that would be due in a moon or so. He wondered what they would end up naming them.

"How was your walk with Cinderpaw?" she asked.

"Good," Fireheart replied. "She still has a ways to go, but she's further along than I expected her to be at this point. It shouldn't be long before she can start training again."

"She's lucky to have you as a mentor," Ravenflight remarked. "I think knowing that you believe in her is part of what's helping her progress as quickly as she is."

"Maybe," Fireheart meowed awkwardly, unsure if he was deserving of such praise. "But I think it's mostly the fact that Yellowfang is a great medicine cat and does her job well. It's really the exercises that have been helping Cinderpaw."

Sandstorm rolled her eyes. "Oh, Fireheart, give yourself a _little _credit," she meowed, nudging him with her shoulder. "Of course, Yellowfang's exercises have been helping, but don't underestimate what knowing there's someone who believes in you can do. Honestly, if you-know-who was her mentor, I think Cinderpaw would have given up on being a warrior completely."

"She's right," Ravenflight agreed. "When we heard about Cinderpaw's accident, I don't think anyone thought she was going to be able to become a warrior. Even Yellowfang and Bluestar had their doubts. I don't think even Cinderpaw thought she had a future as a warrior anymore. But because _you _said you were going to help her become a warrior no matter what, she believed it could happen...and already, she's starting to walk again."

Fireheart was touched by his friends' praise, but he was sure that they were overexaggerating his contributions. He might have helped a _little_, granted, but it was really thanks to Yellowfang that Cinderpaw was doing as well as she was. On the other hand, Sandstorm had a point when she said that Cinderpaw would have given up completely if Graystripe had been her mentor. Perhaps he was being unnecessarily harsh.

_Speaking of which, where is he anyway? _Fireheart wondered, glancing around the camp. There was no sign of the gray warrior anywhere. _Oh well. He's probably sleeping the day away or something. _

Rising back to his paws, Fireheart meowed goodbye to his friends before making his way to the warriors' den. As he expected, Graystripe was inside, but he didn't even glance at his ex-friend as he curled up in his own nest and dozed off. There was a lot of work to be done tomorrow, and he wanted to be sharp and ready when the sun rose.


	14. Return of the Rogues

Fireheart walked alongside Whitestorm, Runningwind, and Brackenpaw as they patrolled along the edges of their territory by the ShadowClan border. A few paces ahead, Cinderpaw was bounding around eagerly, nose in the air as she sniffed for any prey-scent.

"Be careful, Cinderpaw," Fireheart called out to his apprentice. "Remember, we're right next to the Thunderpath."

Cinderpaw paused momentarily. "Don't worry," she called over her shoulder. "I'll make sure to watch where I'm going this time."

She returned to skipping almost immediately, and Fireheart let out a sigh. Although she had progressed fairly quickly since she had returned to training, he still had a difficult time teaching her to use a little caution once in a while. On the other hand, looking at Cinderpaw now, she did seem to be taking extra care not to stray too close to the edge of the Thunderpath.

_Progress is progress, I suppose, _Fireheart thought. Out loud, he meowed, "Cinderpaw, why don't you practice leaping again? Try jumping from where you're standing onto that tree stump."

After she had recovered enough strength in her injured leg to make it once around the territory, Yellowfang had given Fireheart permission to try reteaching Cinderpaw the basics of hunting and fighting moves. At the moment, they were focused on helping her learn how to leap with only one good back leg.

Fireheart watched as Cinderpaw sank down into a crouch and prepared to spring. He saw her muscles tighten as she pushed off with as much strength as she could muster on her one good leg, her front paws outstretched as she grasped for the tree stump. However, there wasn't quite enough force behind the jump, and her claws scraped the bark as she crashed headfirst into it.

"Cinderpaw! Are you okay?" Fireheart exclaimed worriedly as the gray molly scrambled back to her paws, shaking her fur off.

"I'm okay!" she meowed, oddly cheerful for someone who had just crashed face first into a tree stump.

"Your jump looked much stronger that time," the flame-colored warrior praised his apprentice. "Just a little more and you would have had it."

"Close one, Cinderpaw," Brackenpaw meowed, playfully nudging his sister's shoulder.

Cinderpaw purred. "Just you wait, I'll still be able to out-jump you one day!"

"Settle down, you two," Whitestorm meowed, his yellow eyes gleaming with amusement. "We need to finish this patrol sometime before the next moon, you know."

They continued their path along the ShadowClan border, coming up near the burnt ash tree. Fireheart had Cinderpaw practice her jumping a few more times, and he noted with pleasure that the strength behind each was relatively the same. That meant the first one hadn't been a fluke.

Suddenly, however, the mood turned sour when the patrol came across a dead rabbit lying just inside their territory. Whitestorm padded forward and sniffed cautiously at the rabbit. Fireheart didn't need to see the anger flare in his Clanmate's eyes to know what had been found on the dead animal; the wind carried the scent, along with the story. ShadowClan warriors had been hunting on their territory.

_Maybe Tigerclaw did find evidence of them on our territory before, _he mused to himself. Then he pushed the thought away. _That's not important right now. _

"ShadowClan," Runningwind growled. He, too, had picked up the stench of enemy warriors on the dead rabbit.

"I knew they couldn't be trusted," Fireheart growled, feeling a surge of rage at the Clan he and his Clanmates had risked their lives to save from Brokenstar's reign. "Can't trust anyone on that side of the border, no matter whether they kill innocent kits or not."

Yet still, something seemed off. He couldn't place a reason as to why a ShadowClan patrol would go so far as to hunt in another Clan's territory only to leave their catch–or at least part of it–behind. It seemed like an awful lot of trouble to go through if they were only going to waste prey, especially when their own Clan most likely needed all the fresh-kill it could get in these cold, harsh leaf-bare days. Were they trying to send a message, perhaps, telling them that ThunderClan was powerless to stop the prey theft?

"We need to report this to Bluestar," Whitestorm growled. "She needs to know what ShadowClan has done."

"Do you think she'll order an attack?" Fireheart asked.

"She should!" Whitestorm hissed. "And I'll lead it myself if I can. Nightstar has betrayed our trust, and StarClan knows he must pay for it."

* * *

The patrol moved swiftly through the forest as they headed back in the direction of the ThunderClan camp. Even Cinderpaw was following the older warriors obediently instead of skipping about as she usually did. Discovering the rabbit remains, reeking of ShadowClan, had cast a dark cloud over everyone's mood.

Although he shared his Clanmates' anger, Fireheart couldn't help feeling as though there was more to the stolen prey than they were seeing. It wasn't only the fact that they had inexplicably left the rabbit to be discovered instead of taking it home to feed their Clan. The scent wafting off the dead prey stirred up an unpleasant feeling that sent the hairs along his pelt rising. It was beyond anger, it was pure, unadulterated hatred.

_But why? _Fireheart wasn't fond of ShadowClan by any means–far from it–but he didn't necessarily _hate _them. He hated their untrustworthiness and willingness to break the warrior code, sure, but not the cats themselves. This hatred was different. Every fiber of his being burned with the desire to sink his claws into the fur of whoever the scent on the rabbit belonged to.

"Bluestar!" Whitestorm flung the dead rabbit into the center of the clearing.

"Bluestar just left on patrol," Tigerclaw told him. "What is it you need?"

Whitestorm stared at the deputy. "Look at these!" he spat.

Tigerclaw didn't need to be told what they meant; their scent carried the whole story. His eyes began to burn with rage.

Several warriors gathered around the clearing, roused by the commotion caused by the returning cats. Sandstorm poked her head out of the nursery and Graystripe pushed his way out of the warriors' den. One-eye, Smallear, and Patchpelt all emerged from the elders' den, looking rather irritated at being awoken.

"What has happened?" Willowpelt called out.

"ShadowClan has been hunting on our territory!" Runningwind answered her. "We found the remains of a dead rabbit, stinking to the stars above of those traitorous rogues."

"How dare they?" Frostfur hissed, her white fur bristling.

"ThunderClan," Tigerclaw yowled over the furious hisses of the rest of the Clan. "Rest assured, we will not let ShadowClan get away with this. Whitestorm, Runningwind, Mousefur, and Darkstripe, you come with me. We'll meet up with Bluestar's patrol and tell her what has happened, and then we'll lead a raid on ShadowClan together. Fireheart, Graystripe, you two are in charge of watching the camp while we're gone."

Fireheart didn't miss the sneer the dark tabby tossed his way, and he felt a prickle of anger. Did Tigerclaw think a kittypet was unworthy of following his Clanmates into battle? But he knew better than to voice his displeasure; there were more important matters to attend to. Instead, he dipped his head respectfully, forcing his fur to lie flat.

Within moments, the battle patrol set out through the gorse tunnel. Resigned to his fate, Fireheart settled himself near the middle of the camp, keeping watch for any sign of trouble. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Graystripe slink back into the warriors' den, probably retreating to the safety of his nest.

_What a surprise, _he thought bitterly, his mouth twisting into a sneer. _He gets a job _in camp _and he still can't be bothered to follow orders. _

Yellowfang came padding out of her den. Fireheart opened his mouth to greet her until he saw her pause to taste the air, her orange eyes filling with fear. She sniffed at the dead rabbit's remains. The ginger tom watched her curiously, wondering why she was so interested in the stolen prey.

At last, she lifted her head and met Fireheart's gaze. "Brokenstar!" she rasped.

"_What?_" Fireheart exclaimed, but a moment later, it all made sense. The way the rabbit had been left out in the open for the patrol to discover like an ominous message, the feeling of hatred that flared up whenever the scent wafted over his scent glands. It was Brokenstar's scent the entire time! "Are you sure?"

"ShadowClan isn't to blame for this!" Yellowfang cried. "This is Brokenstar and his old followers. We must stop Tigerclaw before he reaches the ShadowClan border. He'll be making a huge mistake if he attacks!"

Fireheart's mind began racing. On one hand, he and Graystripe were the only warriors left in camp, and if either one of them left to intercept Tigerclaw's patrol, it would leave the camp even more vulnerable to a possible raid from Brokenstar's rogues. On the other hand, if he sent one of the apprentices, it was possible that they would be caught and killed by the rogues, and he wasn't about to ask Yellowfang or any of the queens and elders to risk their lives on such a dangerous mission. That meant that either he or Graystripe would have to make the trip, but Fireheart didn't like the thought of leaving the camp while Cinderpaw and Sandstorm were in danger.

_I guess that leaves no choice, then, _he thought grimly. _Let's hope Graystripe still has a little loyalty left. _

"Leave this to me," he meowed to Yellowfang. "I'll send Graystripe after them."

He waited for her to nod in reply before turning and bounding off into the warriors' den. As he entered, he saw Graystripe jerk his head up in surprise. His yellow eyes narrowed as soon as he saw Fireheart.

"What do _you _want?" the gray warrior asked rudely.

"Now isn't the time," Fireheart snapped. "You need to get to Tigerclaw and tell him there's been a mistake. It wasn't ShadowClan that left the dead rabbit; it was Brokenstar."

Graystripe stared at him, all hostility suddenly replaced by shock and fear. "Brokenstar? You're sure?"

"_Yes, _I'm sure," Fireheart hissed. "Now go! I don't know how far Tigerclaw has gotten by now, but you need to catch up to them before they cross the border!"

"But I can't leave the camp!" Graystripe protested. "Why don't you go instead? You're faster than me anyway."

"I need to be here to help Cinderpaw in case Brokenstar and his rogues come before we can meet up with Tigerclaw's patrol," Fireheart replied impatiently. "As for your camp confinement, well, you're just going to have to break the rules again, aren't you? Don't worry, at least it will be for the good of the Clan this time."

His former friend's eyes flashed, and he opened his mouth to reply. Before he could say anything, however, a yowl of alarm sounded from the clearing. Forgetting all about the current situation at hand, Fireheart spun around and raced out of the den. The sight that greeted him sent a chill running down his spine.

Brokenstar stood at the edge of the camp, his eyes glittering with a mixture of hatred and triumph. Four warriors prowled about behind him, their fur matted and their expressions twisted with bloodlust.

"So, you two are the only warriors left!" he sneered to Fireheart and Graystripe. "This will be easier than I thought!"

* * *

Bluestar and Tigerclaw had nearly led their respective patrols to the ShadowClan border when a gray blur nearly crashed into the ThunderClan leader. She reared back in surprise, her pelt standing on end until she realized that it was Graystripe.

"What are you doing out of camp?" she asked sharply. She still hadn't forgiven him for attacking Fireheart.

"You need to come back now," Graystripe gasped out. "Brokenstar and his warriors are attacking our camp! They were the ones who left the dead rabbit. Fireheart sent me to fetch you."

"Fireheart's back in the camp?" Ravenflight echoed. He glanced around before focusing his attention on Graystripe again. "But if you're here, then that means..."

"He's the only warrior left in camp!" Mousefur exclaimed.

Bluestar didn't waste any time. Signaling to her warriors to follow her, she turned tail and led the way swiftly back to the camp. The trees seemed to pass by in a blur as she raced through the snow-covered woods. Her only focus was on reaching her kit and making sure he was safe.

The camp was alive with the sights and sounds of battle when they entered. Yowls and screeches pierced the air, along with occasional bits of flying blood and fur. Bluestar blinked as her muzzle was splattered with blood before quickly shaking herself off. She didn't have time to freeze; she had to find her son. The blue-gray molly glanced around anxiously. There he was, locked in a fierce tussle with one of the rogues. As they rolled past her, Bluestar didn't miss the look of vengeful hatred in her son's eyes, nor the telltale scent of the rogue. It was Clawface, the warrior who had killed Spottedleaf and stolen Frostfur's kits, one of whom was Cinderpaw, Fireheart's apprentice.

She felt a thrill of mingled fear and elation; both warriors were fighting to kill.

"Why don't you just give in already?" Clawface hissed, lunging forward to sink his teeth into Fireheart's neck. Bluestar's muscles tensed as she prepared to spring forward to help her son, but he managed to dodge out of the way at the last second. "You don't stand a chance against me, kittypet."

Fireheart narrowed his eyes. "After today, Clawface, our nests will be lined with the remains of your entrails, you kit-stealing murderer."

Clawface lunged for Fireheart, but the ginger tom was faster. He quickly slipped around Clawface, using his back legs to send the rogue sprawling and one foreleg to twist his head around until a sickening crunch sounded throughout the clearing. Fireheart let go of Clawface and he dropped to the ground, his eyes glazed and his neck twisted at an odd angle.

Bluestar raced over to her son, who stepped back and panted, exhausted. His pelt was bleeding profusely from several deep cuts, and she knew he wouldn't have enough strength to last much longer. For a moment, blind to the battle around them, she pressed her fur against her kit's flank.

"Bluestar," Fireheart meowed tiredly.

"Come on. We'll get you to Yellowfang's den," she meowed.

For once, Fireheart didn't argue and simply allowed her to lead him to the safety of the medicine den. He was noticeably unsteady now and kept swaying every time he walked. His battle with Clawface had clearly taken quite a toll on him. Bluestar felt a lump in her throat. Why did it always have to be Fireheart?

"Don't worry about me," Fireheart grunted, obviously noticing her expression. "I'm not going to die. I just need some cobwebs and probably the entire supply of poppy seeds as well."

"Why must you always put yourself in danger?" Bluestar murmured, feeling her eyes mist over.

"I think it's more accurate to say that danger found _me _this time," the flame-colored warrior pointed out. Bluestar just shook her head and licked one of his wounds gently.

As they entered the medicine den, Bluestar found Cinderpaw inside, nursing several cuts of her own. The young apprentice looked up, gasping in horror when she saw her mentor. Scrambling back to her paws, she limped over to Fireheart.

"What happened? Are you okay?" she asked frantically. "Who did this?"

"Clawface," Fireheart replied. "Don't worry Cinderpaw, I'm fine. Nothing a few cobwebs and some poppy seeds can't fix right up."

Cinderpaw's tail drooped. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there to help."

"That's not important right now," Fireheart meowed gently. "The important thing is that we're all fine."

Cinderpaw still didn't look convinced, so Fireheart added, "But if you want to help, you could start by fetching some cobwebs for me. I should probably start tending to my wounds before I bleed out a river in this den."

The gray molly nodded. "Okay, Fireheart," she meowed, turning around and disappearing into Yellowfang's stores in search of cobwebs.

Fireheart sat down, curling his tail around his paws. His emerald eyes glittered with exhaustion and pain, but other than that, his wounds didn't appear to be bothering him too much. Bluestar licked his forehead, torn between rejoining her Clanmates in battle and staying to make sure her kit would be okay. But the sounds of battle were fading now. Her warriors could make do without her. Right now, Fireheart needed her more.

The ginger tom turned his head toward the entrance. "It's quiet now," he murmured. "Is the battle over, do you think?"

"I think it must be," Bluestar replied. "Lie down, Fireheart. You've had quite the day today."

"Don't I always," Fireheart yawned, stretching out on the stone floor and closing his eyes. Cinderpaw reemerged and began applying cobwebs to her mentor's wounds. "Oh, and Bluestar?"

"Yes, Fireheart? What is it?" Bluestar asked gently.

Fireheart blinked one eye open at her. "Dustpaw fought like a warrior today. The Clan would have been in a lot more trouble without his strength. If I may, I'd like to suggest that he receive his warrior name since Darkstripe wasn't here to see it."

Bluestar nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I agree. We'll hold his ceremony tomorrow, then." She licked his forehead again. "Now, get some rest, for StarClan's sake. Don't worry, I'll see to it that you're filled in on everything that happens later."

Fireheart just nodded and closed his eyes once more. A moment later, his flank was rising and falling steadily as he dozed. Bluestar watched her kit sleeping peacefully for a few moments before turning and padding out of the medicine den. She would be sure to return to check on him later, but for now, she needed to address her Clan about the rogues' invasion.

* * *

** Brokenstar finally returned...don't worry, Fireheart's okay. He's just (very) tired. Hey, it's been a long few moons for the poor guy. **

**Clawface is dead, and this time, Fireheart is the one who killed him. When you murder the boy's medicine mentor and try to kidnap his kit friends (well, they're not exactly kits anymore, but still), you're going to have a bad day. He'll see to it that you do. **

**Dustpaw will become a warrior at last...no plans to change his name, so he's just going to be Dustpelt. **

**Bluestar's still pissed at Graystripe, not that anyone can really blame her. He _did _kind of attack her son. However, he actually did something useful for once. We'll see if she decides to lift his punishment in the face of everything that's happened. **

**Thanks for reading! **

**-TheShadowedWarrior**


	15. Get Out

After a long night of sleep, Fireheart was well enough to return to his warrior duties. He padded across the camp to join Sandstorm at the fresh-kill pile, meowing a cursory greeting to the newly named Dustpelt along the way. To his surprise, the brown tabby gave him a quick nod in return. It wasn't friendly, but it was more than he'd been expecting.

"Good morning," Sandstorm purred.

"You too," Fireheart replied, picking up a mouse from the fresh-kill pile. "So Dustpelt received his warrior name, huh?"

"Yeah," Sandstorm meowed. Then she frowned. "Wait, how did you find out about that? I thought you were asleep in the medicine den."

"I think the Clan cheering his name might have woken me up," Fireheart admitted. "No matter, though. What else did I miss?"

"Not much, really," the pale ginger molly replied, taking a bite out of the squirrel she'd selected for herself. "Yellowfang managed to blind Brokentail, so we drove him out of the camp with his followers. Two of them were killed, though–Clawface and another one, I forget his name. Hopefully, that's the last we'll see of them."

"I see," Fireheart meowed, then paused. "Wait, Brokentail?"

"Brokenstar," Sandstorm answered. Then she frowned. "Oh, of course, you don't know. Brokenstar was stripped of his name before we chased him away. Even if he _does _have his lives from StarClan, seeing as he's no longer a leader..."

Fireheart nodded, and the two cats went back to enjoying their meal. A few moments later, they were joined by Ravenflight and, surprisingly, Dustpelt. Fireheart glanced warily at the tabby warrior, but there was no sign of Dustpelt's usual hostility on his face. Perhaps he was too busy reveling in the glory of finally becoming a warrior.

"Glad you could join us," he meowed. Even if he and Dustpelt weren't friends, he could at least make an effort to be polite.

"Sure, Fireheart," Dustpelt meowed curtly.

Fireheart was startled. In all the time he'd known Dustpelt, he couldn't remember him ever addressing him by name before. It was strange to hear coming from him, but in a way, it also felt nice. Maybe Dustpelt really was trying to change himself for the better after all.

_I guess all that needed to happen was for him to get over his jealousy, _Fireheart thought.

"So, Graystripe still not speaking to the three of you?" Dustpelt asked.

"Nope," Ravenflight answered nonchalantly.

"You'd think he'd have gotten over it by now," Dustpelt snorted. "Especially considering it was his fault in the first place. He _was _the one who attacked Fireheart, after all."

"I'm surprised you care about that," Fireheart remarked.

"I might not be your friend, Fireheart, but I'm no traitor. Just because we don't get along doesn't mean I want to see you get attacked by a Clanmate," the brown tabby retorted. Fireheart flicked his ears in acknowledgment.

"Speaking of the traitor, he had his camp confinement lifted," Sandstorm remarked, and Fireheart rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Yeah, none of us are pleased about it either, but Bluestar said that he deserves a chance to prove himself after yesterday's battle. Although, I suppose it _was _almost time for it to be finished with anyway."

"Oh well, hopefully, we won't have to patrol or hunt with him," Ravenflight meowed. Swallowing the last of his meal, he rose to his paws. "Well, I'm going to take Brightpaw out hunting. Do any of you want to come along?"

"I'll come," Fireheart meowed, standing up as well. "This will be a good chance for Cinderpaw to practice her hunting crouch and leaping again."

"I'd come, but I don't think I'd be much use training Thornpaw right now," Sandstorm remarked wryly.

"What if Dustpelt took out Thornpaw instead?" Ravenflight suggested.

Sandstorm looked thoughtful. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea," she admitted. "Everyone else seems busy–everyone trustworthy, that is. Do you mind, Dustpelt?"

"Not at all," Dustpelt answered, flicking his tail.

"Good," Sandstorm meowed, nodding. "I expect a full report when you get back, though."

The three warriors bid farewell to Sandstorm before gathering up their apprentices and heading out through the gorse tunnel. Along the way, Fireheart started a few small conversations with Dustpelt. He was surprised to find that, when not sneering at him for his kittypet roots or sulking about his relationship with Sandstorm, the brown tabby was almost _nice_. He wasn't exactly friendly with Fireheart, but he wasn't nearly as hostile as usual, and for the first time, it didn't seem impossible that they might become friends one day.

"So, Sandstorm is having your kits," Dustpelt meowed suddenly.

"She is," Fireheart confirmed, not sure exactly where this conversation was headed.

"Congratulations," Dustpelt replied.

"Thank you," Fireheart meowed, startled for the second time that day by Dustpelt's courteousness.

There were a few moments of silence, and Fireheart watched as Cinderpaw practiced leaping on top of fallen trees before Dustpelt spoke up again.

"You were her choice from the beginning, you know," he meowed. "I always thought that she would decide not to take a mate. The only cats around our age were Ravenflight, me, and Graystripe, and you don't exactly see anyone falling all over themselves to be with us. But as soon as you arrived in ThunderClan, it was easy to see that she had her sights set on you."

"Is _that _why you hated me?" Fireheart asked.

"Is what why?" Dustpelt asked, blinking.

"I always thought you had a thing for Sandstorm," the ginger tom admitted. "Well, at least until I found out that you two were related. But..."

Dustpelt shook his head. "No, Sandstorm was my friend, but I never had feelings for her. We _are _kin, as you know, and we were raised alongside each other, so she became something like a sister to me. When Robinwing–that's my mother–passed away and Ravenflight and I started growing apart, she was always there for me. Sometimes, I would be feeling sad about losing my mother and Sandkit–Sandstorm–would come and cheer me up."

"But then..." Fireheart prompted, sensing there was more to come.

"But then you came along," the tabby warrior continued. "And suddenly, she had her eyes on someone else. On _you_. Just like that, you had stolen my best friend from me, and you hadn't even been in the Clan for a whole day yet."

"_Stole _her? I didn't _steal _anyone," Fireheart retorted, feeling his fur bristle defensively. "I never told her not to be friends with you. _She chose to cut ties with you_. Because you harassed me constantly about my birth out of jealousy and spite."

"But you hated me!" Dustpelt shot back.

"I never hated you!" Fireheart snapped. "I hated the way you refused to stop mocking my birthplace, not _you_. If you had just grown up and stopped being such a mouse-brained piece of fox dung, I would have been _more _than happy to be friends with you."

Dustpelt opened his mouth to respond, then appeared to think better of it. "Fine, I suppose you have a point," he replied begrudgingly. "I'm sorry, okay? I'll do better from now on."

"You do that," Fireheart replied curtly. Privately, however, he couldn't help feeling pleased. At least that was one less cat who would be pestering him about his kittypet origins.

They continued on for some time, with Fireheart watching Cinderpaw practicing her hunting crouch and giving her pointers here and there. She was still off-balance, but the overall technique was still decent. Her leaping was still the same as it had been the day before, although they had to stop early since her wounds from the battle still ached. Overall, however, it had been a decent training session.

Soon, however, their collective good mood was ruined. As they were beginning to turn back in the direction of the camp, helping Thornpaw and Brightpaw carry the load of prey they had managed to catch, who should approach them but Graystripe, his yellow eyes wide and his pelt reeking of fish?

For several heartbeats, no one said a single word. Finally, however, Ravenflight snapped.

"You are _unbelievable!_" he snarled at Graystripe. "Your first day out of camp, and _this _is how you choose to spend your time? Have you no shame?"

"It's none of your business what I do!" Graystripe snapped back. "Besides, I caught something already. I was just going to go fetch it."

"Oh, really?" Fireheart asked sarcastically. "And by _caught, _do you mean you actually caught it, or was it a gift from your pretty little RiverClan mate?"

"Shut _up!_" Graystripe spat as Dustpelt glanced back and forth between the three snarling warriors. A few paces away, Brightpaw, Thornpaw, and Cinderpaw watched the exchange with eager eyes.

"Fireheart, what's going on here? What RiverClan mate?" the brown tabby asked. Fireheart flicked his tail to let him know that he'd explain everything later, and he nodded.

"So I've just revealed your secret, so what? What are you going to do? Attack me again, just like you did when you lost Brackenpaw?" the flame-colored warrior meowed coldly.

Graystripe backed up slightly. "No one will ever believe you," he hissed.

"Oh, I don't know about that," Ravenflight interjected. "You aren't exactly the most popular cat in the Clan right now, Graystripe. Don't forget, Bluestar and Tigerclaw both caught on to your disappearances. And Crookedstar mentioned at the last Gathering that he's been scenting ThunderClan on their side of the river. Do you _really _think you're going to get away with this? They've probably already figured it out by now."

"Why can't you just mind your own business?" Graystripe snarled, his claws sliding out.

Fireheart snorted. "This again? 'Mind your own business, why can't you mind your own business', is that all you know how to say? Alright, Graystripe, we'll make a deal with you. We'll get our noses out of your personal life. _But _you have to make a choice. Silverstream or ThunderClan. Right here, right now."

Graystripe stared at him. "That's not fair!" he protested.

"Oh, it's more than fair." This time, it was Dustpelt who spoke. "Face it, Graystripe, you're a traitor. While the rest of us have been struggling to deal with the cold, the shortage of prey, greencough, and the rogues, you were gallivanting behind everyone's backs with a RiverClan cat. A cat from one of the Clans we might be at war with any day now! What else have you been doing? Telling her all of ThunderClan's secrets, perhaps?"

"No!" Graystripe snapped. "I'm a loyal ThunderClan cat! You all know that."

"Obviously not," Fireheart replied. "Right now, all we know is that you're an unreliable warrior, an unfaithful mentor and that you're willing to put an illegal relationship over the needs of your Clan. Tell me, how many times have you been needed these past two moons and when have you _ever _been there for anyone? How many times did you neglect Brackenpaw before Bluestar finally stripped him from you? How many times did you take the prey that the rest of the Clan had worked hard to catch after bringing back little to nothing to show for yourself?"

"I was there when the rogues attacked!"

"Only because you were still confined to the camp at the time. If you hadn't been stuck there, you would have been off with Silverstream as usual."

Graystripe sneered at them. "You can't exile me," he meowed arrogantly. "You're not our leader."

"Maybe we can't do anything officially," Fireheart acknowledged. He narrowed his eyes. "However, the warrior code _does _say to drive out all trespassers, and considering you didn't choose ThunderClan over Silverstream, that means you've chosen her. Which would mean you've decided that you're no longer a ThunderClan cat, which would _also _mean that you're now an enemy warrior. Am I correct, Ravenflight, Dustpelt?"

"That's right," Dustpelt agreed.

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Ravenflight added.

Fireheart nodded and signaled with his tail to the rest of the patrol. Silently, Ravenflight and Dustpelt slipped in beside him, flanked by the apprentices. Brightpaw and Thornpaw were crouched low, their eyes narrowed and their tails lashing. Ravenflight's face was twisted into a snarl and his claws were flexing. Dustpelt's teeth were bared as he hissed at Graystripe. Cinderpaw spat beside Fireheart, her normally cheerful expression now twisted with the rage of a warrior defending her Clan. And finally, there was Fireheart. He wasn't showing much on his face, but as always, his eyes gave away the anger he was feeling–that, as well as the cold, unholy voice with which he spoke his next words.

"You have until the count of three to beg StarClan to take pity on you."

* * *

Truthfully, Fireheart hadn't been planning on hurting Graystripe. Even if he was a traitor, a six-on-one fight was more than a little unfair. But the scare tactic had worked and Graystripe had fled, his fur bristling and his tail between his legs. What would happen to him now, only StarClan knew.

"Well...what now?" Ravenflight asked once Graystripe had disappeared from sight.

"What do you think? We go back and report this to Bluestar," Fireheart answered.

"Has Graystripe gone to RiverClan, do you think?" Thornpaw asked, glancing off in the direction the gray tabby had disappeared from.

"Probably," Dustpelt meowed, looking as though it were a throwaway response of little importance. "Don't worry about him now, Thornpaw. StarClan will judge him how they will. For now, he's none of our concern anymore."

Although Fireheart shared his Clanmate's sentiments, a part of him couldn't suppress a twinge of regret. Graystripe had been one of his first friends; whatever had happened between them in recent moons, nothing could ever change that. He was a good cat, or at least he had been at one point. Why had it been so impossible for him to be that way again?

"Are you okay, Fireheart?" Cinderpaw asked, gazing at her mentor with a worried expression in her eyes.

Fireheart blinked, snapping out of his thoughts. "Oh, I'm fine," he meowed quickly. "Just a little lost in thought. Let's just go report to Bluestar."

They walked back to the camp in silence. When they arrived, Bluestar was sitting outside her den, conversing with Tigerclaw and Whitestorm. Taking a deep breath, Fireheart padded over to his former mentor, followed closely by Ravenflight and Dustpelt. There was no going back now. It was finally time for the truth to come out.

"Bluestar? May we speak with you?" he asked politely. "We have something to report."

"Of course, Fireheart. Is this something that needs to be said in private?" Bluestar responded gently.

Fireheart hesitated, then shook his head. "No, I don't think it really matters," he answered. "Everyone will have found out about it by tomorrow morning anyway."

"What happened?" Whitestorm asked curiously.

"Graystripe's gone," Fireheart explained. Better to just be upfront and honest, he decided. "He went to RiverClan."

All three of the older warriors stiffened. Whitestorm and Bluestar stared at him in shock, while Tigerclaw wore a sneer on his face. The fur bristling along his spine, however, betrayed the dark tabby's astonishment. Fireheart shifted uncomfortably, wondering if he'd made a mistake in driving Graystripe out of the territory.

Finally, Bluestar spoke. "Explain," she meowed.

"Well, you know how Graystripe kept sneaking out of camp?" Fireheart asked. They all nodded. "Well, the truth is, the reason he was sneaking out because he was seeing a RiverClan queen named Silverstream. We found out by accident about two moons ago when we sent our apprentices to track Graystripe and walked in on him sharing tongues with her."

"And you didn't think to tell us this before?" Tigerclaw asked sharply.

"The plan was to wait to see if Graystripe would change his behavior," Ravenflight explained. "We were hoping that, now that he'd been discovered, he would stop seeing Silverstream. But if he hadn't changed anything within a quarter moon, we were going to tell you everything."

"But then there was that greencough outbreak, and after that, there was trouble with ShadowClan and RiverClan," Fireheart added. "And there just never seemed to be the right moment. We didn't want to cause any more trouble than necessary. It seemed like you already had enough to worry about. Besides, we were able to ignore it for a while since Graystripe was confined to the camp."

"But today, we took the apprentices out for a hunting mission, and we ran into Graystripe on the way back," Dustpelt spoke up. "He had no prey and he was stinking of RiverClan. I suppose he must have forgotten to disguise the scent, or perhaps he hadn't gotten around to it yet."

"I lost my temper with him then," Ravenflight admitted. "I asked him what he was thinking, sneaking out and seeing his RiverClan mate when he'd only just been relieved of his punishment. But he wouldn't listen, and just kept telling us that it was none of our business what he chose to do with his personal life."

"So I gave him an ultimatum," Fireheart continued, picking up the story. "I told him that he had to make a choice right then. He could either choose to be with Silverstream or he could choose to leave her and serve his Clan. In the end, he decided to go to RiverClan to be with Silverstream. I wasn't trying to undermine you," he added quickly. "I know it's not my place to exile anyone. But I just lost my temper with him. Besides, I didn't _technically _force him out...I simply gave him a choice, and he chose to leave."

He searched Bluestar's face for any sign of anger, but to his relief, he found none. Instead, her blue eyes were as gentle and sympathetic as always. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. It looked as though she wasn't upset with him for driving out one of her warriors after all.

"Thank you for telling me this, you three," she meowed. Her voice grew stern as she continued, "However, in the future, I expect you to inform me as soon as you know that something is going on with one of my warriors. I am still your leader, and no matter what other troubles I may be dealing with, I need to know everything that's going on in the Clan."

"Yes, Bluestar. I understand," Fireheart meowed obediently.

Bluestar nodded. "Go and eat now, and then get some sleep," she meowed gently. "You three look like you've had a long day. I'll explain what happened to the rest of the Clan later."

The three younger warriors nodded and turned to head over to the fresh-kill pile. After selecting one piece of prey each, they took it over to the clump of nettles and sat down. For a while, they ate in silence until Fireheart finally turned to Dustpelt.

"Thanks for helping out back there, by the way," he meowed.

"No problem," Dustpelt replied.

For a moment, Fireheart considered offering Dustpelt a chance to be friends, then decided against it. It was still too soon after Graystripe's abandonment, not to mention their previous animosity, to allow himself to become friends with the brown tabby warrior just yet. But, he promised himself, once the time felt right, he wouldn't hesitate to make the offer.

* * *

**So yep, Graystripe's gone now. Don't worry, he will be redeemed eventually, but it won't be for a while. He probably won't rejoin ThunderClan either because Silverstream won't be dying in this AU (since she'll be able to give birth in her own camp instead of having to drag herself across the river to Sunningrocks, which probably contributed to her death in canon), and she and Graystripe will just be raising Feather and Storm together in RiverClan. **

**There won't be too many chapters of this book left, then I'll be moving on to _Forest of Secrets_. This book was more filler than anything, which is why I tried to keep it short while still having at least _something _important happen. **

**Also, Dustpelt and Fireheart will (as you can tell from this chapter) become friends much sooner than in canon. I'd originally planned for it to take longer, but I figured I might as well redeem him now. I also tried to provide a somewhat plausible explanation as to why Dustpelt was so resentful and hostile towards Fireheart when he first joined the Clan, other than the fanon interpretation of "he was jealous because he had a crush on Sandstorm". That _was _my original plan until I remembered that Dustpelt and Sandstorm are directly related. Screw you, Warrior Cats family trees. **

**Thanks for reading! **

**-TheShadowedWarrior**


	16. Family Bonds and an Invasion

"Alright, let's practice your jump one more time," Fireheart instructed Cinderpaw. "Aim for that branch about three tail-lengths above my head."

Cinderpaw crouched down, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she aimed herself towards the branch Fireheart had pointed out. She pushed off with as much strength as she could muster but failed to hit her target, her forepaws flailing aimlessly as she came crashing back down to earth. She got up almost immediately, but her eyes betrayed her disappointment.

"That was a good attempt," Fireheart meowed, trying to sound encouraging.

"It's no use. I'm never going to get it right," Cinderpaw sighed.

"Don't say that. Of course, you will!" Fireheart meowed forcefully. "You just need a little more practice."

"But that's what you've been saying for days now, and I still haven't gotten it right," the gray molly meowed despondently.

Fireheart frowned slightly. While it had taken Cinderpaw a considerable amount of time to relearn how to run, pounce, and even to gain enough strength to walk around the territory, she hadn't given any indication that it was bothering her until now. Something else must have been going on, but what?

"Cinderpaw, let's stop for now. Why don't we go for a walk instead?" he suggested.

Cinderpaw sighed and nodded, allowing Fireheart to lead her deeper into the forest. They walked in silence for some time as he tried to think of a good way to get her to talk about what was bothering her. He could spend hours on end teaching and reteaching her every skill she would need as a warrior, but asking her to talk about her feelings was an entirely different matter altogether.

"So..." he began finally. "Is there anything going on that you want to talk about?"

"Not really," Cinderpaw replied. "I guess I'm just a little tired of it is all."

"Tired of what?" Fireheart questioned.

"Of...everything, I guess," the younger cat answered. "Mostly of feeling useless. I could barely hold my own in the battle against the rogues and I spent most of it hiding in the medicine den. And I know you're going to say that it's perfectly fine and that it should be expected that I'm not ready to fight yet, but I thought I'd be a little further along than this by now."

Fireheart stopped walking. "Can I tell you a secret?" he asked. She nodded. "When I was an apprentice, it took me almost half a moon to get my climbing technique down."

"No way!" Cinderpaw exclaimed, coming to a sudden halt. "_You? _But you're so good at climbing now!"

"Doesn't mean it's always been that way," Fireheart answered. "The first time I tried climbing a tree, I made the mistake of looking down and the height made me so nervous that I couldn't bring myself to try again for days. It took Tigerclaw chasing me up a tree to get me to even think about trying to learn how to climb. But even then, my technique was so poor that Bluestar didn't want me climbing more than two fox-lengths above my head."

Cinderpaw purred in amusement. "She'd probably do the same thing even if you _were _good at climbing."

"Maybe," Fireheart meowed, feeling a prickle of embarrassment at his mentor's overprotective nature. Honestly, how obvious could Bluestar be? "But getting back to the point, I kept at it, and eventually, I mastered my climbing technique."

"Was it frustrating when you couldn't get it right?" Cinderpaw asked quietly.

"Unbelievably so," Fireheart replied. "I thought there was something wrong with me. And seeing everyone else master it so quickly stung even more. But I got it right eventually, and that's what matters in the end. And you'll relearn everything eventually, Cinderpaw. It doesn't matter how long it takes. Even a fully healthy apprentice can take a while to learn certain skills."

"But what if I can't? Then this will all be for nothing," Cinderpaw meowed.

"That won't happen because I know you can do it," Fireheart replied, his voice soft but firm. "And Bluestar knows it too, and so do your siblings, Yellowfang, and Frostfur. Everyone in ThunderClan–everyone that matters, anyway–knows you're perfectly capable of becoming a warrior. But the most important thing is whether or not you believe in yourself."

* * *

The following day, Fireheart took Cinderpaw out for another training session to practice her jumping skills. His talk with her appeared to have done some good, and she was much more confident than she had been the previous afternoon. Even after failing to reach the tree branch for the fifth time in a row, she remained steadfastly optimistic. Fireheart was pleased that she had regained her usual enthusiasm, although he made a promise to himself to spend extra time on Cinderpaw's training.

When they returned to the camp, Fireheart dismissed Cinderpaw before heading over to the fresh-kill pile to pick out something for Sandstorm. He was on his way to the nursery when he was called over by Dustpelt.

"Hey, Fireheart," Dustpelt meowed. Fireheart paused and glanced over at the tabby warrior, who was seated next to Ravenflight. "How was Cinderpaw's training today?"

"Good," Fireheart answered, walking over and settling himself down next to the two warriors. "We still need to work on jumping, but she's at least motivated now. Or more so than she was yesterday, at any rate. What about you and Thornpaw?"

"It was great. He's a quick learner," Dustpelt meowed sincerely. Almost wistfully, he added, "It would be nice to have an apprentice for real, though."

"It might not be long until you do," Ravenflight meowed encouragingly. "Fireheart and I became mentors only a few days after we were made warriors."

"True, but that was kind of a special case. Bluestar normally wouldn't make new warriors mentors," the brown tabby reminded his brother.

"Well, by the time Brindleface's kits are of age, maybe you'll be experienced enough to mentor one of them," Fireheart suggested.

"Maybe," Dustpelt agreed, cheering up slightly at the thought.

"I should get this mouse to Sandstorm now. I'll talk to you two later," Fireheart meowed, rising to his paws and picking up the mouse again.

He continued on his way to the nursery, where he nearly bumped into Bluestar on her way out. The ThunderClan leader started slightly, caught off guard by his sudden appearance, but collected herself almost immediately.

"Sorry, Bluestar," Fireheart apologized. "I didn't see you there."

"That's all right, Fireheart," Bluestar meowed kindly. "Are you bringing that mouse to Sandstorm, I take it?"

"Yes, I am," Fireheart answered.

"Good. When you're done, come meet me in my den," the blue-gray molly meowed.

Fireheart nodded and pushed his way past his former mentor and into the nursery. Once he was inside, he blinked a few times to let his eyes adjust to the dim light. After a few moments, he was able to see Sandstorm curled up on the opposite side of the nursery, gazing at him with eyes full of love. He padded over and placed the mouse down in front of her.

"Thank you, Fireheart," Sandstorm purred.

"Do you need anything else? Water? Fresh bedding?" Fireheart asked.

Sandstorm shook her head. "I'm fine," she meowed gently. "But thank you."

"You got lucky with that one, Sandstorm," Brindleface purred from her own nest. "Although of course, it's only to be expected that any tom who goes near you should know how to treat you right. Only the best for my daughter."

Fireheart fidgeted uncomfortably. "I don't know about the _best_..."

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course, you are," Brindleface meowed, flicking her tail. "If you weren't, I wouldn't allow you to become mates with Sandstorm. You just make sure you keep it up, or else I might rescind my approval."

"Brindleface," Sandstorm groaned. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop trying to scare Fireheart away? I would like for him _not _to be too nervous to visit the nursery when our kits are born, you know!"

"Oh, don't worry. I won't scare him too much," Brindleface meowed in amusement. Fireheart, meanwhile, made a mental note to start bringing Sandstorm even more fresh-kill, as well as fresh bedding and a drink of water.

The three warriors conversed for a few more moments before Fireheart remembered that he was supposed to meet with Bluestar. Meowing a hasty goodbye to Sandstorm and Brindleface, he turned and walked out of the nursery. As he approached Bluestar's den, he wondered what his former mentor could possibly have to talk about with him. Graystripe had left nearly half a moon ago and nothing of note had happened since then, so Fireheart couldn't think of anything that would warrant a private conversation.

He was almost to the Highrock when Onewhisker came bursting into the camp, nearly sending Brackenpaw flying. The WindClan warrior's pelt was covered in scratches and bite marks, and blood dripped down from his wounds, staining the snow-covered ground.

"You've got to help us," he gasped out–whether it was from pain or exhaustion, Fireheart couldn't tell. "RiverClan and ShadowClan have invaded our camp!"

* * *

Tigerclaw bounded over to Onewhisker as Bluestar came striding out of her den. "Tell us what happened," the dark tabby meowed.

"RiverClan and ShadowClan have joined together and are trying to drive us out again," Onewhisker explained. "Tallstar refuses to be driven out a second time, but we don't have enough strength to take on two Clans at once. I came here to ask for ThunderClan's help."

Tigerclaw nodded and turned his attention to the rest of the Clan, who had gathered around the clearing to see what was happening. Sandstorm, Brindleface, and Goldenflower poked their heads out of the nursery. Halftail padded out of the elders' den, looking rather irritated about being woken up. Privately, Fireheart thought that the elders might not be so moody if they spent a little less time sleeping. Then he wondered if it was the time to be thinking about such things.

"ThunderClan," Tigerclaw yowled. "We will take two patrols to assist WindClan. I will be taking all the warriors with me. It is crucial that we do not allow a Clan to be driven from the forest again."

Personally, Fireheart thought it was a bit rude of Tigerclaw to start barking out orders to battle without even consulting Bluestar, especially considering that she was standing barely a fox-length away. Then again, she didn't seem to have a problem with it, so perhaps he was concerning himself over nothing.

"I'll lead the first patrol. Whitestorm, you lead the second," the great dark tabby continued. "Mousefur, Longtail, Darkstripe, Swiftpaw, Brackenpaw, and Fireheart, you'll be joining my patrol. Onewhisker, you'll be in my patrol as well. The rest of you except for the queens and elders, you'll be on Whitestorm's patrol."

"What about Cinderpaw?" Brightpaw asked.

"Fireheart?" Tigerclaw meowed, turning to the younger warrior. "Is Cinderpaw ready to fight?"

Fireheart hesitated for a few moments. He wanted nothing more than to say yes if only to let Cinderpaw prove once and for all that she could still be a warrior. But common sense told him otherwise. They still hadn't gone over how to fight with a crippled leg, and it had shown in the battle against the rogues, not to mention that was only against five cats. Sending Cinderpaw to battle against two Clans' worth of healthy, well-trained warriors would be akin to murder.

"Not yet," he answered finally. "Not for a battle like this."

"Very well," Tigerclaw replied. "Cinderpaw will stay here, then."

"And I'll remain here as well," Bluestar spoke up. Fireheart breathed an inward sigh of relief. His leader wasn't going to risk her final life.

The chosen warriors and apprentices gathered by the gorse tunnel. Tigerclaw stood tall and proud in front, while Whitestorm surveyed the Clan a tail-length to the right. Fireheart padded over to stand behind Longtail, feeling his insides already starting to burn with the thrill of battle.

"Are we ready?" Tigerclaw called, receiving yowls of agreement in response. "Very well. Let's go."

* * *

**Sorry this chapter took so long! I've started working recently, which means I'm basically unable to write from 11-5 Monday through Friday. Weekends are really the only time I can write anything now, but I'm usually too tired to do anything but sleep. **

**Oh well, at least it's finished now, even if it's not the best quality. **

**Thanks for reading! **

**-TheShadowedWarrior**


	17. Enemies

The WindClan camp was alight with the sights and sounds of battle by the time the ThunderClan warriors arrived. As they descended into the camp, Fireheart could see Tallstar wrestling fiercely with a RiverClan warrior named Blackclaw. A few tail-lengths away, Stonefur and Shadepelt were battling with Deadfoot and Mudclaw. The WindClan warriors' eyes were gleaming with righteous anger, and they barely seemed to feel their wounds even as blood dripped down onto the moorland.

Tigerclaw let out a ferocious battle cry and launched himself at the nearest enemy cat, a ShadowClan warrior whose name Fireheart couldn't be bothered to remember. He moved forward to assist the deputy, only to find himself being bowled over by Mistyfoot. Fireheart gasped in pain as her claws raked his sides, twisting around desperately to attempt a counterattack. Eventually, he managed to free one paw and struck her across the throat. It wasn't enough to kill her, but it was enough to get her to loosen her grip. As Mistyfoot stepped back, coughing and gagging, Fireheart took advantage of her momentary lapse in concentration to pin her down. He slashed relentlessly at her muzzle and chest until the RiverClan molly struggled free, racing away towards the camp entrance.

Breathing heavily, Fireheart rose to his paws again, his flanks stinging. He glanced around the clearing, which was still filled with cats from every Clan. Across the camp, Tigerclaw and Whitestorm were fighting side by side against Wetfoot and Cinderfur. Dustpelt was grappling with Stonefur, and Ravenflight was locked in battle with two other RiverClan warriors. It took Fireheart a few heartbeats, but eventually, he was able to recognize Mosspelt and Graystripe.

Fury blinded Fireheart for an instant at the sight of his traitorous ex-best friend. Without thinking, he launched himself at the gray warrior, his claws unsheathed. Graystripe froze when he saw Fireheart, and the flame-pelted warrior easily bowled him over. Fireheart stared down at Graystripe, letting his claws sink into his former Clanmate's pelt.

"So," he hissed venomously. "We meet again, _traitor_."

"Fireheart, what are you doing? It's me, Graystripe!" the RiverClan tom pleaded pathetically. "You wouldn't attack one of your friends, would you?"

"No, I wouldn't attack one of my friends. But then again, you are _not _my friend. You chose Silverstream, remember?"

Graystripe's eyes glittered with pain. "That doesn't mean I didn't care about ThunderClan."

"Tell that to someone who cares," Fireheart snapped back, giving Graystripe a vicious bite to the shoulder. The gray warrior yowled in pain. "Get out of here!"

Graystripe staggered back to his paws, his yellow eyes shining with pain and a bit of resentment as he fled the camp. Fireheart watched his former friend until he disappeared from sight, leaving a trail of blood droplets in his wake.

_Well, _he thought to himself. _If there was ever any chance of fixing things with Graystripe, I guess it's gone now. _

A yowl brought Fireheart's attention back to the battle. Turning around, he saw Silverstream rushing towards him, her claws outstretched and her eyes blazing with fury. It was clear that she had seen him attack Graystripe. However, that wasn't what was bothering Fireheart. The RiverClan queen was moving rather slowly, not that RiverClan warriors, in general, were known for being particularly quick out of the water, but this was slow even by their standards. It was only too easy for him to dodge out of the way, which he did so at the last possible second, causing Silverstream to go sprawling as she leaped at him. As she tumbled to the ground, he caught a whiff of an odd, yet familiar, scent clinging to her pelt.

_Where have I smelled that before? _

In the midst of his confusion, Fireheart didn't notice that Silverstream had gotten back to her feet until she crashed into him, pinning him down on the bloodstained battlefield. But her grip was weak and she was panting heavily with exhaustion, and he was easily able to free himself. He forced her onto the ground, the strange scent once again filling his nostrils, and he found himself thrown back in time to a day in leaf-bare, Sandstorm's fur pressed against him and the same scent wafting off of her as she told him that she was expecting his kits.

Suddenly, everything made sense. Now that he had a better look, Fireheart could see that Silverstream's belly was swollen. However, it was only slightly, and he suspected that she must have become pregnant very recently. Clearly, it hadn't been enough to discourage her from participating in this battle. But she was losing energy quickly, and Fireheart knew that if she stayed any longer, she would get herself and her unborn kits killed.

_I could do it, _he thought. It would have been only too easy. In her state, there was no way Silverstream would be able to fight back against him.

Fireheart wondered if he should have hated Silverstream. After all, she was the reason Graystripe had turned on his Clan. If she hadn't fished him out of the river that day, they never would have met, and his friendship with the gray warrior wouldn't have ended so bitterly.

But...Graystripe had made his own choice, hadn't he? He had given Graystripe a choice, they all had, and he had chosen Silverstream over Clan loyalty. Silverstream, the logical part of his mind reasoned, had nothing to do with it. It wasn't her fault that her mate was a faithless traitor.

Besides, if he killed or even wounded a pregnant queen in an unfair battle, he would be no better than a rogue.

_Which means I have to let her escape. _

Fireheart stepped off of her, sheathing his claws and relaxing his aggressive stance. "Go," he hissed. "Don't endanger your kits any more than you already have."

Silverstream stared at him. "How did you–" she began, but Fireheart didn't stay to hear the rest.

As he rejoined the battle, Fireheart heard Runningwind yowl for help. The ThunderClan warrior was battling against Nightstar, the ShadowClan leader. Fireheart raced over to help his Clanmate. It seemed strange, he reflected as he raked his claws over Nightstar's forehead, that he had been fighting side by side with this tom as allies only a few moons ago. Now, he slashed and swiped at the dark tom with the same ruthlessness with which he'd attacked Brokentail in the middle of the ShadowClan camp.

However, despite his age, Nightstar certainly hadn't been made a leader for no reason. He twisted free from Fireheart's grip and spun around, preparing to leap at the younger warrior. But Runningwind was ready. Before Nightstar could attack, he jumped onto the ShadowClan leader's back, flattening him beneath him and biting down hard on his ear. Nightstar yowled in pain and Runningwind released him, stepping back to stand beside Fireheart.

Nightstar glared at them, but he was outnumbered and he knew it. His eyes glittering with fury, he spun around and raced towards the exit, yowling for his warriors to retreat. One by one, the remaining ShadowClan warriors fled after their leader, leaving the exhausted RiverClan cats to battle WindClan and ThunderClan alone.

Fireheart glanced around the clearing for Crookedstar. It wasn't hard to spot him. Now that the ShadowClan warriors had gone, the clearing was much emptier than before. The brown tom was in the middle of the camp, facing off against Tigerclaw. As Fireheart watched, the two warriors circled around each other, their eyes narrowed and their tails lashing.

Crookedstar leaped forward, but Tigerclaw dodged swiftly to one side. He turned around almost immediately, pinning the RiverClan leader down and sinking his teeth into the back of his neck.

As the light brown tabby collapsed onto the battlefield, Fireheart heard one of the RiverClan warriors yowl, "Crookedstar! No!"

It was Leopardfur. The RiverClan deputy raced towards her fallen leader. Crookedstar lay on the bloodstained moor, blood flowing out from his wounds. His flank was perfectly still, and even from where he stood, Fireheart could see that his eyes were glazed over.

_He's losing a life, _the flame-colored warrior realized.

Fireheart felt conflicted. On one hand, he knew that death was always a risk when going into battle. On the other hand, he knew that Tigerclaw was strong enough to beat Crookedstar without taking one of his lives. The dark tabby must have known it as well.

_Maybe it was just an accident, _he thought. Maybe Tigerclaw had simply aimed his bite poorly. There was no reason to believe that he had purposely taken one of Crookedstar's lives.

Then he caught sight of the deputy's expression. Tigerclaw's amber eyes were gleaming with cold triumph as he stared down at Crookedstar's unmoving body. Fireheart gave an involuntary shiver that he didn't think had anything to do with the cold. There was no doubt about it now. What Tigerclaw had done was in no way an accident.

The clearing had grown silent now, every cat waiting with bated breath to see if Crookedstar would return. Finally, after what felt like seasons of waiting, the RiverClan leader gave a weak cough. His eyes fluttered open, and the RiverClan warriors all let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Leopardfur?" Crookedstar murmured. "What has happened?"

"The battle is over," Leopardfur stated. "We must retreat."

Crookestar closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again. "Very well. Retreat."

As Fireheart watched the defeated RiverClan warriors limp out of the camp, he tried to feel triumphant. But he was overwhelmed with exhaustion and sickness at Tigerclaw's display of viciousness. He wanted to believe that the dark tabby had simply let the battle cloud his judgment, but instinct told him that wasn't the case.

_Why, though? _Tigerclaw wasn't the friendliest cat in the forest and he seemed to change for the worse after becoming Clan deputy, but he had never struck Fireheart as a murderer. It was all extremely confusing, and Fireheart was too tired to work it out at the moment.

"You fought well today, Fireheart!" Runningwind's voice brought the ginger tom back to his senses.

"Indeed," Whitestorm agreed, padding over to join them. "Bluestar would have been proud if she could have seen your efforts."

Fireheart purred in thanks, then stiffened when he caught sight of Tigerclaw stalking towards him with an expression of spiteful satisfaction on his face. A few paces away, Darkstripe was sneering at him. It didn't take a sign from StarClan to figure out what had happened. Darkstripe must have seen him let Silverstream go, and the moment the battle ended, he had rushed over to tell Tigerclaw everything.

_How pathetic, _Fireheart thought in bitter amusement as Tigerclaw stalked up to him. _A senior warrior and he still acts like a kit tattling to his mother. _

"Darkstripe tells me that you let a RiverClan warrior escape," the dark tabby growled.

Fireheart met the older warrior's gaze defiantly. "Yes, I chose to let a _pregnant_"–he emphasized the word– "queen escape. What was the point in wounding her? She was already beaten anyway."

Tigerclaw sneered at him. "What will Bluestar think of you now when she finds out that her precious apprentice is a traitor?"

_That _made Fireheart's blood boil. Even if he had chosen to let an enemy warrior escape, Tigerclaw had no right to question his loyalty. His only motive had been following the warrior code, not any lack of faith towards his Clan.

However, he kept his voice neutral as he replied, "You're welcome to tell her if you must. However, I'd like to warn you that if you do, I'll make sure to tell her that you killed Crookedstar. And unlike you, I have multiple witnesses from _three _Clans who can back up my story."

Tigerclaw's tail lashed. "I didn't kill him."

"But you tried to. And he still lost a life. That's the whole point. It's only because Crookedstar is a Clan leader that he was able to come back. Had he been a regular warrior, he would have stayed dead."

Tigerclaw glared furiously at him, but he knew that he couldn't win this one. Fireheart glared right back, feeling nothing but corrosive hatred towards the cat who was supposed to be one of his strongest allies. One thing was for sure, he would never be able to look at Tigerclaw the same way again.

Finally, Tigerclaw hissed, "You may have Bluestar's favor now, kittypet, but I am still your deputy and I expect you to treat me with respect. I'll let it slide this time, but be careful that you don't cross me again. I'd hate for you to do something that you'll regret."

With that final thinly veiled threat, he spun around and stalked away towards Darkstripe and Longtail. Fireheart stared after him, his insides burning with anger and hatred.

_Just try it if you think you can, Tigerclaw._

* * *

**And there you have it! Some of Tigerclaw's cruelty has finally come to light. Fireheart knows it too, as he always does, lol. However, at this point, he doesn't suspect that Tigerclaw might be a traitor, only that he could be a potential murderer. But either way, he's certainly got a lot of nerve standing up to Tigerclaw like that. Such a good boy. **

**So Fireheart ran into Silverstream _and _Graystripe but chose to attack Graystripe while still letting Silverstream escape. This was mostly done to show that, while he's still angry at Graystripe, he doesn't blame Silverstream for what happened. Besides, he wouldn't want to hurt a pregnant queen. If anyone's wondering why Silverstream was battling, it's still early enough in her pregnancy that she can still perform her warrior duties. **

**This concludes Fireheart's story for the _Fire and Ice _arc. I'll write one more chapter, but it will be from a different cat's point of view. **

**Thanks for reading, **

**-TheShadowedWarrior**


	18. Reflecting

"How are your wounds, Mistyfoot?" Silverstream asked, watching as Mudfur tended to her best friend. Stonefur sat a few tail-lengths away, his blue eyes gleaming with worry for his sister.

Mistyfoot winced slightly. "Painful," she replied honestly. "But not unbearable. I'll live, Silverstream, don't worry."

"Fireheart certainly is aggressive in battle," Stonefur noted. "It's odd. He's usually so calm. Although, I suppose we already knew that about him."

_Fireheart__. _Silverstream felt her blood boil at the mention of the cat who had wounded her mate. She had heard what Fireheart had said to Graystripe during the battle and had seen the pain in the gray warrior's expression when his former best friend told him they weren't friends anymore. Fireheart had hurt Graystripe in more ways than one, and for that, Silverstream didn't think she would ever forgive him.

Seeing the anger in her eyes, Mistyfoot rested her tail-tip on the silver tabby's shoulder. "Don't be too angry," she murmured. "It was a battle. Fireheart only did what he had to do."

"But he upset Graystripe!" Silverstream exclaimed. "He hurt the cat I love."

"Fireheart's probably hurt too. Don't forget, Graystripe and he used to be best friends until he betrayed ThunderClan for you," the blue-furred molly pointed out. "I doubt it was easy for him to fight against his former friend so soon after he left. From what Graystripe told us, it sounds as though it wasn't a friendly parting."

Silverstream opened her mouth to argue but found that she couldn't think of anything to say. Mistyfoot had brought up a valid point, after all. It was only natural that Fireheart would still be upset at the loss of one of his best friends. But even so, she couldn't suppress a twinge of resentment at the pain he had caused Graystripe.

"He let you go, didn't he?" Mistyfoot pressed on. "He could have easily hurt you and your kits, but he chose not to. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Silverstream looked down at her paws, wondering if she was being unfair. Of course, she was grateful to Fireheart for letting her unborn kits escape unharmed, but what did that matter now? He had hurt Graystripe, but he had allowed her to escape. The way Silverstream saw things, they were even now. Fireheart meant nothing to her. Her only concern was comforting her mate and making sure that her Clanmates were going to be alright.

Meowing a quick goodbye to Mistyfoot, Stonefur, and Mudfur, Silverstream turned and walked out of the medicine den. She padded across the camp to the warriors' den, pushing her way inside. Graystripe was curled up in his nest, his flank covered in cobwebs and poultices. There was a distant look in his eyes that sent a pang through Silverstream's heart, and the anger she'd felt towards Fireheart flared up again.

She settled herself down beside him and Graystripe purred, licking her cheek. Silverstream pressed her flank against his, relieved to see some of his usual cheerfulness return to his eyes.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'll be fine," Graystripe answered. "It was just a bit strange fighting against ThunderClan so soon. I mean, I knew it was going to happen at some point, but I didn't expect it to be so soon."

"Do you regret leaving?" Silverstream asked worriedly. Maybe it wasn't only the confrontation with Fireheart that was upsetting the gray warrior. If Graystripe decided to go back to ThunderClan, she didn't know what she would do. As selfish as it was, she wanted her mate to stay in his new Clan so they could raise their kits together. Not only because she wanted Graystripe by her side, but because she didn't want her kits to grow up torn between two Clans.

However, Graystripe shook his head fervently. "No," he replied with utmost conviction, and Silverstream felt a wave of relief. "And even if I did, I'd never be welcomed back anyway. Bluestar never forgave me for fighting Fireheart. No, my place is with you, Silverstream. I know I made the right choice. I'm just trying to adjust to having new Clanmates, that's all."

"I saw what Fireheart did to you during the battle," Silverstream admitted.

"I figured you probably did," Graystripe meowed.

"I'm sorry he hurt you," Silverstream meowed softly.

However, Graystripe simply flicked his ears. "It was only to be expected. If there's one thing I can say about Fireheart, it's that he certainly knows how to hold a grudge. I'm not sure he'll ever get over the fact that I chose you instead of ThunderClan."

"He tried to attack me too," she meowed. She wasn't sure why she was telling him this, but she pressed on anyway. "But he stopped when he realized that I was expecting and let me escape instead."

Graystripe looked at her in surprise. "He did?" he asked, and Silverstream could tell that he hadn't been expecting Fireheart to show her any mercy.

"Really," Silverstream confirmed. "Although, I'm not sure how he knew."

"Well, Sandstorm was expecting his kits," Graystripe meowed, looking thoughtful. "And he spends a lot of time caring for her. That's probably how he knew."

Silverstream just nodded and curled up against her mate, closing her eyes. She had thought that talking to Graystripe would help her sort out her feelings about Fireheart, but instead, she felt more conflicted than ever. It was true that Fireheart had hurt Graystripe, no matter how much he might try to act as though he hadn't, that much was true. But she had just learned that he had a gentle side as well and would do anything for his mate, just like Graystripe would do for her.

He was cruel, vindictive, spiteful, mean-spirited, and had driven Graystripe away from his home. But he was also kind, gentle, merciful, and in driving Graystripe out of ThunderClan, he had helped ensure that their kits would be able to grow up fully loyal to RiverClan.

Fireheart was much more complex than she'd originally thought, and Silverstream couldn't decide what she felt towards him. Her views of him were so conflicting that it was hard to decide which one felt more real. Was she supposed to hate him for upsetting and injuring Graystripe or be grateful that he had chosen to spare her even though he could have easily killed her and her kits? Silverstream didn't know, and at the moment, she was too tired to figure it out.

Maybe one day, she would get to know the real Fireheart. For now, however, she would bask in the joy of being with her beloved mate.

* * *

**That's a wrap! I'll be starting the _Forest of Secrets _arc soon. Fair warning, that's where most of the drama happens. **

**Not much to say, so thanks again for reading! **

**-TheShadowedWarrior**


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